Authentic omnichannel: providing consumers with a seamless brand experience through authenticity

Omnichannel represents a customer-oriented distribution paradigm through which retailers can deliver a seamless customer experience and create an authentic brand narrative that is communicated to customers across diverse touchpoints. Despite the increasing relevance of the omnichannel approach, research on how omnichannel can affect the customer experience remains scant. This research consists of a qualitative study and three experimental studies. Drawing from signaling theory, we contend that the signal congruency established by omnichannel — where all the channels are aligned and convey a consistent message to customers — can enhance consumers’ purchase intention and perceptions of brand authenticity. We further investigate the role of brand authenticity as a mediator of the relationship between multichannel customer experience (seamless vs. non-seamless) and purchase intention, as well as of brand untrustworthiness as a moderator of the relationship between multichannel customer experience and brand authenticity. The results show that a seamless multichannel customer experience has a significant main effect on purchase intention and that participants in the seamless multichannel customer experience condition perceive the brand as more authentic than those in the non-seamless multichannel customer experience condition. Both the mediation and moderation hypotheses are supported. These findings enhance the literature on signaling theory and omnichannel. They also provide insightful implications for retailers in terms of managing the omnichannel customer experience. Overall, this study integrates the research areas of brand authenticity and omnichannel and provides valuable insights by indicating how seamlessness can boost consumers’ perception of brand authenticity. Furthermore, the study advances our knowledge by investigating the impact of brand authenticity as both a result of the omnichannel customer experience and a predictor of purchase intention

Sustainability Analysis of Hydrogen Production Processes: a Comparison Based on Sustainability Indicators

Hydrogen is a versatile energy carrier and storage medium that may be employed in a variety of applications. It may be produced using different processes. In this work, process simulation is used to obtain material and energy balances for each process investigated, as well as for the evaluation of capital and maintenance costs. Process simulation outcomes are then used to estimate three key performance indicators focusing on sustainability issues: the energy return of energy invested, the levelized cost of hydrogen and the life cycle assessment. We compared several hydrogen generation processes, each denoted by a unique colour code: (i) green hydrogen, produced by electrolysis of water using electricity from renewable sources, (ii) grid hydrogen, produced by electrolysis using grid electricity, (iii) grey hydrogen, produced from natural gas using steam reforming and (iv) blue hydrogen, like grey one, but coupled with carbon capture and storage. In conclusion, the most sustainable hydrogen production method is the green hydrogen, produced by water electrolysis

Young open clusters in the galactic star forming region NGC 6357

NGC6357 is an active star forming region with very young massive open clusters (OC). These clusters contain some of the most massive stars in the Galaxy and strongly interact with nearby giant molecular clouds (GMC). We study the young stellar populations of the region and of the OC Pismis24, focusing on their relationship with the nearby GMCs. We seek evidence of triggered star formation propagating from the clusters. We used new deep JHKs photometry, along with unpublished deep IRAC/Spitzer MIR photometry, complemented with optical HST/WFPC2 high spatial resolution photometry and X-ray Chandra observations, to constrain age, initial mass function, and star formation modes in progress. We carefully examine and discuss all sources of bias (saturation, confusion, different sensitivities, extinction). NGC6357 hosts three large young stellar clusters, of which Pismis24 is the most prominent. We found that Pismis24 is a very young (~1-3 Myr) OC with a Salpeter-like IMF and a few thousand members. A comparison between optical and IR photometry indicates that the fraction of members with a NIR excess (i. e., with a circumstellar disk) is in the range 0.3-0.6, consistent with its photometrically derived age. We also find that Pismis24 is likely subdivided into a few different sub-clusters, one of which contains almost all the massive members. There are indications of current star formation triggered by these massive stars, but clear age trends could not be derived (although the fraction of stars with a NIR excess does increase towards the HII region associated with the cluster). The gas out of which Pismis24 formed must have been distributed in dense clumps within a cloud of less dense gas ~1 pc in radius. Our findings provide some new insight into how young stellar populations and massive stars emerge, and evolve in the first few Myr after birth, from a giant molecular cloud complex.Comment: 34 pages, 26 figures, to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Tattoo-Associated Skin Reaction: The Importance of an Early Diagnosis and Proper Treatment

Tattoo is going to be a very common practice especially among young people and we are witnessing a gradual increase of numerous potential complications to tattoo placement which are often seen by physicians, but generally unknown to the public. The most common skin reactions to tattoo include a transient acute inflammatory reaction due to trauma of the skin with needles and medical complications such as superficial and deep local infections, systemic infections, allergic contact dermatitis, photodermatitis, granulomatous and lichenoid reactions, and skin diseases localized on tattooed area (eczema, psoriasis, lichen, and morphea). Next to these inflammatory skin reactions we have to consider also the possibility of the development of cutaneous conditions such as pseudolymphomatous reactions and pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia. The aim of this study is to underline the importance of an early diagnosis by performing a histological examination especially when we are in front of suspected papulonodular lesions arising from a tattoo, followed by a proper treatment, since cutaneous neoplastic evolution is known to be a rare but possible complication

The core mass function in NGC6357

The distribution over mass of stars at birth (the initial mass function, IMF) is one of the most important parameters in star-formation research. What determines the IMF is still not clear, nor is it clear whether the IMF is the same for every star forming region. It does seem, however, that the IMF is set very early on by the mass of the molecular cores out of which the stars form. The core mass function (CMF), and by consequence the IMF, may however depend on the physical and chemical properties of the environment. We present the results of our determination of the CMF at various locations in the Galactic star-forming complex NGC 6357. We used SCUBA2 at the JCMT to observe, at 450 mu and 850 mu, the dust associated with the molecular clouds in a 30′ x 30′ (15pc x 15pc) region containing three HII regions. We assess the radiative and mechanical influence of the stars that excite the HII regions on the molecular gas, by determining the CMF near the HII regions and comparing it with that in more quiescent (less exposed to intense stellar feedback) parts of the complex. Preliminary analysis suggests there is a difference between the CMFs

GIANO, the high resolution IR spectrograph of the TNG: geometry of the echellogram and strategies for the 2D reduction of the spectra

GIANO is the IR high resolution spectrograph of the TNG. It covers the 950-2450 nm wavelengths range in a single shot at a resolving power of R=50,000. This document describes the first fundamental steps of the data reduction, namely eliminating the curvature of the traces and the tilt of the slit images. These effects can be accurately modeled and corrected using a physical model of the instrument. We find that the curvature and tilt parameters did not vary during the whole lifetime of the instrument. In particular, they were not affected by thermal cycles or by the works performed to mount the spectrometer on its new interface. A similar ab-initio modeling is also applied to the wavelength calibration that can be accurately (0.03 pixel r.m.s.) defined using a minimum number of parameters to fit. This approach is particularly useful when using a calibration source with an irregular wavelengths coverage; e.g. for the U-Ne lamp that has only few lines in the 2000 nm - 2300 nm wavelengths range

Dynamical Masses for Pre-Main Sequence Stars: A Preliminary Physical Orbit for V773 Tau A

We report on interferometric and radial-velocity observations of the double-lined 51-d period binary (A) component of the quadruple pre-main sequence (PMS) system V773 Tau. With these observations we have estimated preliminary visual and physical orbits of the V773 Tau A subsystem. Among other parameters, our orbit model includes an inclination of 66.0 $\pm$ 2.4 deg, and allows us to infer the component dynamical masses and system distance. In particular we find component masses of 1.54 $\pm$ 0.14 and 1.332 $\pm$ 0.097 M_{\sun} for the Aa (primary) and Ab (secondary) components respectively. Our modeling of the subsystem component spectral energy distributions finds temperatures and luminosities consistent with previous studies, and coupled with the component mass estimates allows for comparison with PMS stellar models in the intermediate-mass range. We compare V773 Tau A component properties with several popular solar-composition models for intermediate-mass PMS stars. All models predict masses consistent to within 2-sigma of the dynamically determined values, though some models predict values that are more consistent than others.Comment: ApJ in press; 25 pages, 6 figures; data tables available in journal versio

Genomic tools for durum wheat breeding: de novo assembly of Svevo transcriptome and SNP discovery in elite germplasm

BACKGROUND: The tetraploid durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum Desf. Husnot) is an important crop which provides the raw material for pasta production and a valuable source of genetic diversity for breeding hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Future breeding efforts to enhance yield potential and climate resilience will increasingly rely on genomics-based approaches to identify and select beneficial alleles. A deeper characterisation of the molecular and functional diversity of the durum wheat transcriptome will be instrumental to more effectively harness its genetic diversity. RESULTS: We report on the de novo transcriptome assembly of durum wheat cultivar 'Svevo'. The transcriptome of four tissues/organs (shoots and roots at the seedling stage, reproductive organs and developing grains) was assembled de novo, yielding 180,108 contigs, with a N50 length of 1121\u2009bp and mean contig length of 883\u2009bp. Alignment against the transcriptome of nine plant species identified 43% of transcripts with homology to at least one reference transcriptome. The functional annotation was completed by means of a combination of complementary software. The presence of differential expression between the A- and B-homoeolog copies of the durum wheat tetraploid genome was ascertained by phase reconstruction of polymorphic sites based on the T. urartu transcripts and inferring homoeolog-specific sequences. We observed greater expression divergence between A and B homoeologs in grains rather than in leaves and roots. The transcriptomes of 13 durum wheat cultivars spanning the breeding period from 1969 to 2005 were analysed for SNP diversity, leading to 95,358 non-rare, hemi-SNPs shared among two or more cultivars and 33,747 locus-specific (diploid inheritance) SNPs. CONCLUSIONS: Our study updates and expands the de novo transcriptome reference assembly available for durum wheat. Out of 180,108 assembled transcripts, 13,636 were specific to the Svevo cultivar as compared to the only other reference transcriptome available for durum, thus contributing to the identification of the tetraploid wheat pan-transcriptome. Additionally, the analysis of 13 historically relevant hallmark varieties produced a SNP dataset that could successfully validate the genotyping in tetraploid wheat and provide a valuable resource for genomics-assisted breeding of both tetraploid and hexaploid wheats

Th17/Treg Imbalance in Murine Cystic Fibrosis Is Linked to Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase Deficiency but Corrected by Kynurenines

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