Old frauds with a new sauce: digital assets and space transition

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Dupuis ◽  
Deborah Smith ◽  
Kimberly Gleason
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Transition Theory ◽  
Regulatory Environment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Space ◽  
Fiat Money ◽  
Digital Asset ◽  
Digital Assets

Purpose The purpose of this study is to describe the evolution of fraud schemes with historically conducted with fiat money in physical space to the crypto-assets in digital space as follows: ransomware, price manipulation, pump and dump schemes, misrepresentation, spoofing and Ponzi Schemes. To explain how fraud schemes have evolved alongside digital asset markets, this study applies the space transition theory. Design/methodology/approach The methodology used is a review of the media regarding six digital asset fraud schemes that have evolved from physical space to virtual space that are currently operational, as well as a review of the literature regarding the space transition theory. Findings This paper finds that the digital space and digital assets may facilitate pseudonymous criminal behavior in the present regulatory environment. Research limitations/implications The field is rapidly evolving, however this study finds that the conversion from physical to virtual space obfuscates the criminal activity, facilitating anonymity of the perpetrators, and creating new challenges for the legal and regulatory environment. Practical implications This paper finds that the digital space and digital assets may facilitate pseudonymous criminal behavior in the present regulatory environment. An understanding of the six crypto-asset fraud schemes described in the paper is useful for anti-financial crime professionals and regulators focusing on deterrence. Social implications The space transition theory offers an explanation for why digital space leads criminals to be better positioned to conduct financial crime in virtual space relative to physical space. This offers insights into behavior of digital asset fraudster behavior that could help limit the social damage caused by crypto-asset fraud. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to detail the evolution of fraud schemes with fiat money in physical space to their corresponding schemes with digital assets in physical space. This study is also the first to integrate the space transition theory into an analysis of digital asset fraud schemes.

Understanding regulatory trends: digital assets & anti-Money laundering

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Kirkptrick ◽  
Aaron Stevens ◽  
Jacob Gerber ◽  
Margaret Nettesheim ◽  
Sebastian Bellm
Keyword(s):  
Money Laundering ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Regulators ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Investment Opportunities ◽  
Digital Asset ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Regulatory Landscape ◽  
Digital Assets

Purpose To evaluate the global anti-money laundering regulation of digital assets and cryptocurrencies. Design/methodology/approach This article provides an analysis of macro trends in digital asset money laundering regulation and explores the regulatory frameworks in some of the leading international crypto markets. Findings As the popularity and public adoption of digital assets have grown, global regulators have turned their attention to the risks of anti-money laundering. Monitoring the evolving international regulatory landscape is essential for organizations looking to successfully take advantage of digital asset-related investment opportunities. Practical implications Market participants should understand all applicable laws and procedures before they decide to enter the digital asset market. These considerations can become even more complex as businesses interact with multiple international regulators. Originality/value This article is designed to help investors understand the global anti-money laundering regulatory landscape regarding digital assets, particularly for those institutions interested in diversifying with crypto-related investment opportunities.

The ontology of digital asset after death: policy complexities, suggestions and critique of digital platforms

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Jin Park ◽  
Yoonmo Sang ◽  
Hoon Lee ◽  
S. Mo Jones-Jang
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Digital Service ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
Digital Asset ◽  
Digital Assets ◽  
Blind Spots

Purpose The digitization of the life has brought complexities associated with addressing digital life after one’s death. This paper aims to investigate the two related issues of the privacy and property of postlife digital assets. Design/methodology/approach The understanding of digital assets has not been fully unpacked largely due to the current policy complexities in accessing and obtaining digital assets at death. This paper calls critical attention to the importance of respecting user rights in digital environments that currently favor service providers’ interests. Findings It is argued that there are ethical blind spots when protecting users’ rights, given no ontological difference between a person’s digital beings and physical existence. These derive from the restrictive corporate terms and ambiguous conditions drafted by digital service providers. Originality/value Fundamentally, the transition to the big data era, in which the collection, use and dissemination of digital activities became integral part of the ontology, poses new challenges to privacy and property rights after death.

SEC framework and no-action letter provide guidance on analyzing whether a digital asset is a security

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 68-71
Author(s):  
Kenneth J. Berman ◽  
Morgan J. Hayes ◽  
Matthew E. Kaplan ◽  
Byungkwon Lim ◽  
Gary E. Murphy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Services ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Securities And Exchange Commission ◽  
Investment Funds ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Securities Investment Funds ◽  
The Us ◽  
Digital Asset ◽  
Digital Assets

Purpose To analyze and draw conclusions from the “Framework for ‘Investment Contract’ Analysis of Digital Assets” (the “Framework”), released by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on April 3, 2019, and the SEC’s corresponding no-action letter to TurnKey Jet, Inc. (“TKJ”), which is the SEC’s first no-action letter publicly agreeing with the view that the digital asset described therein is not a security. Design/Methodology/Approach Explains how the Framework assists market participants in analyzing whether a digital asset is a security, by applying the Howey factors for identifying an investment contract. Discusses the SEC’s TKJ Letter, highlighting the factors the SEC emphasized in its analysis of the Framework. Findings While largely reiterating prior guidance, the Framework provides a helpful overview of the SEC’s views on when a digital asset is a security and how to properly analyze the prongs of Howey with respect to digital assets. The Framework also leaves certain important questions unanswered, including, for example, whether digital assets distributed by means of a so-called “Airdrop” are securities under the Framework, and the extent to which the Framework is meant to interact with digital assets that were issued or otherwise operate on platforms that are primarily overseas. Originality/Value Expert guidance from lawyers with broad experience in financial services, securities, investment funds, derivatives, and digital assets regulation and compliance.

scholarly journals Rear-Seat Productivity in Virtual Reality: Investigating VR Interaction in the Confined Space of a Car

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Jingyi Li ◽  
Ceenu George ◽  
Andrea Ngao ◽  
Kai Holländer ◽  
Stefan Mayer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Rear Seat ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Confined Space ◽  
Physical Restraints ◽  
Working Environments ◽  
Research And Design

Ubiquitous technology lets us work in flexible and decentralised ways. Passengers can already use travel time to be productive, and we envision even better performance and experience in vehicles with emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) headsets. However, the confined physical space constrains interactions while the virtual space may be conceptually borderless. We therefore conducted a VR study (N = 33) to examine the influence of physical restraints and virtual working environments on performance, presence, and the feeling of safety. Our findings show that virtual borders make passengers touch the car interior less, while performance and presence are comparable across conditions. Although passengers prefer a secluded and unlimited virtual environment (nature), they are more productive in a shared and limited one (office). We further discuss choices for virtual borders and environments, social experience, and safety responsiveness. Our work highlights opportunities and challenges for future research and design of rear-seat VR interaction.

scholarly journals Exogenous Alginate Protects Staphylococcus aureus from Killing by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

2019 ◽  
Vol 202 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney E. Price ◽  
Dustin G. Brown ◽  
Dominique H. Limoli ◽  
Vanessa V. Phelan ◽  
George A. O’Toole
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Pseudomonas Aeruginosa ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Late Time ◽  
Protective Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Alginate Production ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients chronically infected with both Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus have worse health outcomes than patients who are monoinfected with either P. aeruginosa or S. aureus. We showed previously that mucoid strains of P. aeruginosa can coexist with S. aureus in vitro due to the transcriptional downregulation of several toxic exoproducts typically produced by P. aeruginosa, including siderophores, rhamnolipids, and HQNO (2-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide). Here, we demonstrate that exogenous alginate protects S. aureus from P. aeruginosa in both planktonic and biofilm coculture models under a variety of nutritional conditions. S. aureus protection in the presence of exogenous alginate is due to the transcriptional downregulation of pvdA, a gene required for the production of the iron-scavenging siderophore pyoverdine as well as the downregulation of the PQS (Pseudomonas quinolone signal) (2-heptyl-3,4-dihydroxyquinoline) quorum sensing system. The impact of exogenous alginate is independent of endogenous alginate production. We further demonstrate that coculture of mucoid P. aeruginosa with nonmucoid P. aeruginosa strains can mitigate the killing of S. aureus by the nonmucoid strain of P. aeruginosa, indicating that the mechanism that we describe here may function in vivo in the context of mixed infections. Finally, we investigated a panel of mucoid clinical isolates that retain the ability to kill S. aureus at late time points and show that each strain has a unique expression profile, indicating that mucoid isolates can overcome the S. aureus-protective effects of mucoidy in a strain-specific manner. IMPORTANCE CF patients are chronically infected by polymicrobial communities. The two dominant bacterial pathogens that infect the lungs of CF patients are P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, with ∼30% of patients coinfected by both species. Such coinfected individuals have worse outcomes than monoinfected patients, and both species persist within the same physical space. A variety of host and environmental factors have been demonstrated to promote P. aeruginosa-S. aureus coexistence, despite evidence that P. aeruginosa kills S. aureus when these organisms are cocultured in vitro. Thus, a better understanding of P. aeruginosa-S. aureus interactions, particularly mechanisms by which these microorganisms are able to coexist in proximal physical space, will lead to better-informed treatments for chronic polymicrobial infections.

CoboChild: a blended mobile game-based learning service for children in museum contexts

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tien-Yu Hsu ◽  
HsinYi Liang ◽  
Chuang-Kai Chiou ◽  
Judy C.R. Tseng
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
Museum Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mobile Game ◽  
Children’S Learning ◽  
Child Centered ◽  
Children's Learning

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a blended mobile game-based learning service called CoboChild Mobile Exploration Service (hereinafter CoboChild) to support children’s learning in an environment blending virtual game worlds and a museum’s physical space. The contextual model of learning (CML) was applied to consider the related influential factors affecting museum learning and to promote children’s continuous learning and revisit motivations. Design/methodology/approach CoboChild provides a thematic game-based learning environment to facilitate children’s interactions with exhibits and other visitors. A practical system has been implemented in the National Museum of Natural Science (NMNS), Taiwan. A questionnaire was used to examine whether CoboChild can effectively fulfill the CML and to evaluate the impacts on museum learning. Findings CoboChild effectively fulfilled the CML to facilitate children’s interactive experiences and re-visit motivations in the blended mobile game-based learning environment. Most children described the system as providing fruitful playfulness while improving their interpretations of exhibitions and learning experiences. Practical implications CoboChild considers the related contextual influences on the effective support of children’s learning in a museum, and builds a child-centered museum learning environment with highly integrated blended learning resources for children. CoboChild has been successfully operating in the NMNS since 2011. Originality/value This study developed a blended mobile game-based learning service to effectively support children’s learning in museum contexts. The related issues are shown to improve the design of blended museum learning services. This innovative approach can be applied to the design of other child-centered services for engaging children’s interactive experiences in museums.

Manipulating the digital asset market: challenges in establishing a criminal legal defense regime

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-73
Author(s):  
ZARINA KHISAMOVA ◽  
◽  
ELENA KOMOVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Asset Market ◽  
Effective Protection ◽  
Wide Availability ◽  
Digital Asset ◽  
Low Efficiency ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Legal Defense ◽  
Digital Assets ◽  
Selfish Interest

The growth of the digital asset ecosystem has led to the emergence of hundreds of crypto exchanges that facilitate the trade of digital assets. This phenomenon did not remain without the attention of malefactors. Today, we can talk about an independent type of “cryptocurrency exchange crime”. The article analyzes the key criminal trends and formulates the main recommendations for the prevention of criminal encroachments in the cryptocurrency market. At the moment, one of the most common manipulative schemes is “pump and dump”, which became notorious at the turn of the 90s and 2000s. To date, no jurisdiction has created an effective protection regime against such fraud. The authors highlight the main reasons for the low efficiency of the measures taken: the presence of digital assets on the Internet led to the online nature of all stages of manipulations coordinated by anonymous groups in social networks; wide availability and lack of restrictions on the placement of tokens predetermined their regular and widespread placement (as opposed to an IPO); selfish interest of crypto-exchange sites that receive a commission from a transaction. It is emphasized that regulators’ search for a balance between innovation and investor protection is driving the reluctance of many jurisdictions to introduce proper criminal law protection regimes.

The transition of a socio-technical system to a smart grid: illustrated with the Indian electricity network

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakshminarayana Kompella
Keyword(s):  
Technical System ◽  
Transition Theory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
Policy Systems ◽  
Transition Trajectory ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to explain transitions in a socio-technical system characterized by non-economic entities that influence economic activity, i.e. embeddedness and coalitions. The selected socio-technical system is an Indian electric network with an interventionist policy. Its embeddedness and coalitions drive the transition. The insights from such analysis expand socio-technical transition theory and provide valuable insights to practitioners in their policymaking. Design/methodology/approach The authors need to observe the effects of non-economic institutions in their setting. Moreover, in India, the regional policies influence decision-making; therefore, selected two Indian states. The two Indian states, along with their non-economic entities, provided diverse analytic and heuristic views. Findings The findings show that coalitions, with their embeddedness in the absence of any mediating policy systems, act as external pressures and influence innovation and the socio-technical system’s transition trajectory. Their coalitions’ embeddedness follows a shaping, not selection logic. Thereby influence innovations in cumulating as stable designs. Such an approach provides benefits in the short-term but not in the long-term. Research limitations/implications The study selected two states and examined two of the four trajectories. By considering other states, the authors can obtain more renewable energy investments and further insights into the transformational trajectory. Practical implications The study highlights the coalition dynamics specific to the Indian electric power network and its transition trajectories. The non-economic entities influenced transition trajectories, innovation and policymaking of the socio-technical system. Originality/value The study expands the socio-technical transition theory by including embeddedness. The embeddedness brings a shaping logic instead of a selection logic.

Accounting at your service: university survival recovery and revolution from COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Ng
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Crisis Response ◽  
Regulatory Environment ◽  
Service Dominant Logic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Dominant Logic ◽  
Stakeholder Alignment

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the roles of accounting for university survival, recovery and revolution from the COVID-19 pandemic. It constructively critiques the use of compliance and cost-centric accounting to inform crisis response and proposes roles for accounting to better serve decision-making in a crisis. Design/methodology/approach This paper discusses limitations about how accounting information was used in a university’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper describes potential roles for accounting across crisis phases. These proposals recognise requirements arising from the university’s regulatory environment and apply concepts from intellectual capital accounting and service-dominant logic. Findings This paper proposes that in the survival phase, accounting can mitigate rash responses by clarifying the crisis’s impact and stakeholder alignment. In the recovery phase, accounting can inform resourcing decisions by balancing signals from accounting about staff expense and capital investment. In the revolution phase, accounting helps develop the business models needed to adapt to changing student needs, hybrid teaching delivery and importance of intellectual capital. Research limitations/implications The case study discusses the early stages of a university’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It does not provide a comprehensive analysis of success or failure of accounting in a crisis. The case raises directions for accounting to clarify the ambiguities in objectives and cause-and-effect relationships from the pandemic. Practical implications This paper proposes actions for accounting to support the survival, recovery and revolution of the university sector from the pandemic. The actions cover stakeholder engagement, university sector governance and strategic planning. Originality/value This paper proposes a lifecycle of accounting roles at different stages of the COVID-19 response that reflects requirements from the university’s regulatory environment and draws on intellectual capital and service-dominant logic literature.

Respecting care home residents’ right to privacy: what is the evidence of good practice?

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 198-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Emmer De Albuquerque Green ◽  
Anthea Tinker ◽  
Jill Manthorpe
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Care Home ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Care Homes ◽  
Right To Privacy ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Right

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss evidence of good practice in respecting care home residents’ right to privacy. The right to privacy is a fundamental human right as enshrined in international and domestic law and standards. In the context of increasing interest in using a human rights approach to social care in care homes for older people, this literature review summarises research evidence on what respecting the human right to privacy of care home residents entails in practice. Design/methodology/approach This literature review followed a rigorous systematic approach to the scoping review, inspired by the Joanna Biggs Institute’s guidelines for conducting systematic reviews. A total of 12 articles were included in the review. Findings The research took a multidimensional understanding of privacy in their studies. The dimensions can be categorised as physical, inter-relational or related to personal data. The review highlights three good practice points. First, it is good privacy practice in care homes to make available single-occupancy bedrooms to residents since this offers the opportunity to personalising this physical space with furniture and web belongings, adding a sense of ownership over the space. Second, residents appreciate being able to choose when and how they spend their time in their own bedrooms. Third, it is good practice to respect residents’ private physical space and private choices, for example by knocking on doors before entering or agreeing with the resident when it is permissible to enter. The review also found that in some studies privacy considerations were relevant to communal living areas within care homes, including the use of surveillance cameras and the sharing of personal data. Originality/value This literature review adds to the body of academic literature on human rights and social care in practice. It also highlights areas for future research relating to the right to privacy in care homes.

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