University at Buffalo

About: University at Buffalo is a education organization based out in Buffalo, New York, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 33773 authors who have published 63840 publications receiving 2278954 citations. The organization is also known as: UB & State University of New York at Buffalo.

Trust and Satisfaction, Two Stepping Stones for Successful E-Commerce Relationships: A Longitudinal Exploration

Abstract: Trust and satisfaction are essential ingredients for successful business relationships in business-to-consumer electronic commerce. Yet there is little research on trust and satisfaction in e-commerce that takes a longitudinal approach. Drawing on three primary bodies of literature, the theory of reasoned action, the extended valence framework, and expectation-confirmation theory, this study synthesizes a model of consumer trust and satisfaction in the context of e-commerce. The model considers not only how consumers formulate their prepurchase decisions, but also how they form their long-term relationships with the same website vendor by comparing their prepurchase expectations to their actual purchase outcome. The results indicate that trust directly and indirectly affects a consumer's purchase decision in combination with perceived risk and perceived benefit, and also that trust has a longer term impact on consumer e-loyalty through satisfaction. Thus, this study extends our understanding of consumer Internet transaction behavior as a three-fold (prepurchase, purchase, and postpurchase) process, and it recognizes the crucial, multiple roles that trust plays in this process. Implications for theory and practice as well as limitations and future directions are discussed.

WaveCluster: A Multi-Resolution Clustering Approach for Very Large Spatial Databases

Abstract: Many applications require the management of spatial data Clustering large spatial databases is an important problem which tries to find the densely populated regions in the feature space to be used in data mining, knowledge discovery, or efficient information retrieval A good clustering approach should be efficient and detect clusters of arbitrary shape It must be insensitive to the outliers (noise) and the order of input data We propose WaveCluster, a novel clustering approach based on wavelet transforms, which satisfies all the above requirements Using multiresolution property of wavelet transforms, we can effectively identify arbitrary shape clusters at different degrees of accuracy We also demonstrate that WaveCluster is highly efficient in terms of time complexity Experimental results on very large data sets are presented which show the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approach compared to the other recent clustering methods This research is supported by Xerox Corporation Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the VLDB copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the Very Large Data Base Endowment To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or special permission from the Endowment Proceedings of the 24th VLDB Conference New York, USA, 1998

Matrix-Mediated Synthesis of Nanocrystalline γ-Fe2O3: A New Optically Transparent Magnetic Material

Abstract: A new magnetic material with appreciable optical transmission in the visible region at room temperature has been isolated as a gamma-Fe(2)O(3)/polymer nanocomposite. The synthesis is carried out in an ion-exchange resin at 60 degrees C. Magnetization and susceptibility data demonstrate loading-dependent saturation moments as high as 46 electromagnetic units per gram and superparamagnetism for lower loadings where particle sizes are less than 100 angstroms. Optical absorption studies show that the small-particle form of gamma-Fe(2)O(3) is considerably more transparent to visible light than the single-crystal form. The difference in absorption ranges from nearly an order of magnitude in the "red" spectral region to a factor of 3 at 5400 angstroms. The magnetization of the nanocomposite is greater by more than an order of magnitude than those of the strongest room-temperature transparent magnets, FeBO(3) and FeF(3).

Consumer information search revisited: Theory and empirical analysis

Abstract: A comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding consumers' information search behavior is presented. Unlike previous research, our model identifies not only what factors affect consumers' search behavior but also how these factors interact with each other. In particular, the model emphasizes the effect of prior brand perceptions on the search process. We argue that when consumers have brand-specific prior distributions of utility, the existence of relative uncertainty among brands is necessary for search to be useful. Thus, we explain why product class involvement or low search costs may not be sufficient to induce large amounts of search activity and why there may be an inverted-U-shaped relationship between search activity and experience. We test our theory on consumers' search behavior for new automobiles, using data collected contemporaneously with consumers' actual decision process. Our data support our theory.

Periodontal Disease and Diabetes Mellitus: A Two-Way Relationship*

Abstract: Severe periodontal disease often coexists with severe diabetes mellitus. Diabetes is a risk factor for severe periodontal disease. A model is presented whereby severe periodontal disease increases the severity of diabetes mellitus and complicates metabolic control. We propose that an infection-mediated upregulation cycle of cytokine synthesis and secretion by chronic stimulus from lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and products of periodontopathic organisms may amplify the magnitude of the advanced glycation end product (AGE)-mediated cytokine response operative in diabetes mellitus. In this model, the combination of these 2 pathways, infection and AGE-mediated cytokine upregulation, helps explain the increase in tissue destruction seen in diabetic periodontitis, and how periodontal infection may complicate the severity of diabetes and the degree of metabolic control, resulting in a 2-way relationship between diabetes mellitus and periodontal disease/infection. This proposed dual pathway of tissue destruction suggests that control of chronic periodontal infection is essential for achieving long-term control of diabetes mellitus. Evidence is presented to support the hypothesis that elimination of periodontal infection by using systemic antibiotics improves metabolic control of diabetes, defined by reduction in glycated hemoglobin or reduction in insulin requirements.