Use of opaque sales channels in addition to traditional channels by service providers

<p>Motivated by the recent opaque selling trend promoted by Priceline and Hotwire, this study examines a game in which two collaborative service providers may use an opaque selling channel to satisfy demand from both leisure and business customers. Further, the service providers must make a strategic decision as to which opaque selling channel is more profitable: posted price (PP) or name your own price (NYOP). By comparing the profits from the three cases (traditional single channel, traditional and PP dual channel, and traditional and NYOP dual channel), we find some interesting results driven by the strategic interaction between two service providers and by the heterogeneity of customers. Firstly, a dual channel offers advantages over the single traditional channel, as opaque selling allows service providers to utilise customers’ heterogeneity, and thus facilitates price discrimination and customer segmentation. Secondly, choosing the traditional and NYOP mechanism enables service providers to optimise profits when the proportion and valuation of business customers, the opacity of the service, and the leisure customers’ degree of pessimism are all relatively high. Lastly, the traditional and NYOP combination outperforms the traditional and PP mechanism as a result of the relatively large pessimistic state of leisure customers.</p

Enhanced Bulk and Interfacial Charge Transfer Dynamics for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting: The Case of Hematite Nanorod Arrays

Charge transport in the bulk and across the semiconductor/electrolyte interface is one of the major issues that limits photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance in hematite photoelectrodes. Efficient charge transport in the entire hematite is of great importance to obtaining high photoelectrochemical properties. Herein, to reach this goal, we employed both TiO₂ underlayer and overlayer deposition on hematite nanorod films, followed by a fast annealing treatment. The TiO₂ underlayer and overlayer not only serve as dopant sources for carrier density increase but also reduce charge recombination at the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)/hematite interface and accelerate charge transfer across the hematite/electrolyte interface. This synergistic doping and interface modifying effects give rise to an enhanced photoelectrochemical water oxidation performance of hematite nanorod arrays, generating an impressive photocurrent density of 1.49 mA cm^–2 at 1.23 V vs RHE. This is the first report on using both underlayer and overlayer modification with the same material to improve charge transport through the entire electron transport path in hematite, which provides a novel way to manipulate charge transfer across the semiconductor interface for a high-performance photoelectrode

Table_1_Explaining differences in self-focused and other-involved public health preventive behaviors between the US and China: the role of self- construal and health locus of control.docx

BackgroundThis study examined national similarities and differences in people's engagement in health preventive behaviors during a public health crisis, as well as investigated the underlying individual-level psychological mechanisms. A conceptual distinction was made between self-focused and other-involved preventive behaviors in response to public health crises.MethodTwo cross-sectional surveys were conducted in the United States (N = 888) and China (N = 844) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hayes' PROCESS was utilized to assess national differences in seven preventive behaviors, along with the mediating effects of self-construal and health locus of control.ResultsThe results showed that American participants reported greater engagement in self-focused preventive behaviors than Chinese, whereas Chinese participants reported greater engagement in other-involved preventive behaviors than Americans. Chinese participants also engaged more in other-involved than self-focused preventive behaviors. Self-construal and health locus of control partially explained the observed differences in engagement in preventive behaviors.DiscussionThis study introduces a culture-sensitive approach to provide insights for crafting communication interventions that can enhance the effectiveness of health campaigns in the context of a public health crisis.</p

Shear Performance of Horizontal Joints in Short Precast Concrete Columns with Sleeve Grouted Connections under Cyclic Loading

<div><p>In this study, two short precast concrete columns and two cast-in-situ concrete columns were tested under cyclic loads. It was shown that the sleeve grouted connection was equivalent to the cast-in-situ connections for short columns when the axial compression ratio was 0.6. In order to determine the influence of the axial compression ratio and the shear-span ratio on the shear capacity of the horizontal joint, a FE model was established and verified. The analysis showed that the axial compression ratio is advantageous to the joint and the shear capacity of the horizontal joint increases with increase of the shear-span ratio. Based on the results, the methods used to estimate the shear capacity of horizontal joints in the Chinese Specification and the Japanese Guidelines are discussed and it was found that both overestimated the shear capacity of the horizontal joint. In addition, the Chinese Specification failed to consider the influence of the shear-span ratio.</p></div

Crack developing process of the specimens.

<p>Crack developing process of the specimens.</p

Dimensionless skeleton curves.

<p>Dimensionless skeleton curves.</p

Shear Capacities of the Test and the Analysis.

<p>Shear Capacities of the Test and the Analysis.</p

Details of the specimens (unit: mm).

<p>Details of the specimens (unit: mm).</p

Health consequences of premature birth revisited – what have we learned?

Size distribution of all 41,056 unigenes assembled from the pooled M. separata RNA extract. Figure S2. Aligned putative full ORF of OBP gene sequences of M. separata. Six conserved cysteines were highlighted by blue color. Figure S3. Aligned putative ORF of CSP gene sequences of M. separata, CSP13 and CSP14 excluded. Four conserved cysteines were highlighted by blue color. (DOC 683 kb

Funnel plot.

<p>The funnel plot’s shape is in asymmetrical. There was no significant publication bias indicated in the main analysis.</p