Customer Service Challenges in Omni-Channel Retailing—An Exploratory Study of Vague Language in Retailer Customer Service Policies

Retailers are interacting with customers via an ever-increasing number of touchpoints. The addition of social media and mobile devices to the traditional physical and virtual retail platforms has created an evolving consumer practice of using several such touchpoints in the course of a single purchase (the omni-channel”). The difficulty of providing high levels of customer service has increased with the necessity of managing multiple channels under the retailer’s control and coordinating formally or informally with touchpoints not directly within the retailer’s own operations. Multiple sources of potentially conflicting information (e.g., order fulfillment) can lead to miscommunication, and thus poor service experience for customers. The purpose of this paper is to describe two preliminary studies that explore how well retailers are prepared for this increasing complexity via a content analysis of retailer website language regarding customer service policies. Implications of our findings and recommendations for further research are then discussed

Recent Decisions

Recent Decisions Admiralty--Time Charter--Shipowner\u27s Contractual Right to Withdraw Services of Vessel upon Charterer\u27s Failure to Provide Punctual Payment is not Extinguished by Late Tender of Payment Richard F. Cook, Jr. =========================== Antitrust--Treble Damages--A Foreign Sovereign is a Person entitled to Sue under Section 4 of the Clayton Act Edward Cage Brewer, III ========================== Customs search of International Mail--A Customs Search of International Mail is Authorized by 19 C.F.R. § 145.2 and Incorporates the Reasonable Cause to Suspect Requirement of 19 U.S.C. § 482 Daniel R. Wofsey =========================== Jurisdiction and Procedure--Discovery--Party unable to comply with Discovery Order which Contravenes Foreign Nondisclosure Law is not in Contempt of Court Sue D. Sheridan =========================== Treaties--Drugs and Narcotics--Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs permits the United States to Place fewer Restrictions on Separated Marijuana Leaves Steven M. Morga

Gas hydrate measurements at Hydrate Ridge using Raman spectroscopy

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 71: 2947-2959, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2007.03.032.Oceanic gas hydrates have been measured near the seafloor for the first time using a seagoing Raman spectrometer at Hydrate Ridge, Oregon, where extensive layers of hydrates have been found to occur near the seafloor. All of the hydrates analyzed were liberated from the upper meter of the sediment column near active gas venting sites in water depths of 770-780 m. Hydrate properties, such as structure and composition, were measured with significantly less disturbance to the sample than would be realized with core recovery. The natural hydrates measured were sI, with methane as the predominant guest component, and minor/trace amounts of hydrogen sulfide present in three of the twelve samples measured. Methane large-to-small cage occupancy ratios of the hydrates varied from 1.01 to 1.30, in good agreement with measurements of laboratory synthesized and recovered natural hydrates. Although the samples visually appeared to be solid, varying quantities of free methane gas were detected, indicating the presence of occluded gas a hydrate bubble fabric and/or partial hydrate dissociation in the under-saturated seawater.This work was supported through National Undersea Research Program grant UAF03-0098. DORISS and PUP development was funded by a grant to MBARI from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation

A review of DNA risk alleles to determine epigenetic repair of mRNA expression to prove therapeutic effectiveness in reward deficiency syndrome (RDS): Embracing Precision Behavioral Management

This is a review of research on Precision Behavioral Management of substance use disorder (SUD). America is experiencing a high prevalence of substance use disorder, primarily involving legal and illegal opioid use. A 3000% increase in treatment for substance abuse has occurred between 2000 and 2016. Unfortunately, present day treatment of opioid abuse involves providing replacement therapy with powerful opioids to, at best, induce harm reduction, not prophylaxis. These interventions do not enhance gene expression and restore the balance of the brain reward system\u27s neurotransmitters. We are proposing a generalized approach called Precision Behavioral Management . This approach includes 1) using the Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (GARS, a 10 candidate polymorphic gene panel shown to predict ASI-alcohol and drug severity) to assess early pre-disposition to substance use disorder; 2) using a validated reward deficiency syndrome (RDS) questionnaire; 3) utilization of the Comprehensive Analysis of Reported Drugs (CARD™) to assess treatment compliance and abstinence from illicit drugs during treatment, and, importantly; 4) utilization of a Pro-dopamine regulator (KB220) (via IV or oral [KB220Z] delivery systems) to optimize gene expression, restore the balance of the Brain Reward Cascade\u27s neurotransmitter systems and prevent relapse by induction of dopamine homeostasis, and; 5) utilization of targeted DNA polymorphic reward genes to direct mRNA genetic expression profiling during the treatment process. Incorporation of these events can be applied to not only the under-considered African-American RDS community, but all victims of RDS, as a demonstration of a paradigm shift that uniquely provides a novel putative standard of care based on DNA guided precision nutrition therapy to induce dopamine homeostasis and rebalance neurotransmitters in the Brain Reward Cascade. We are also developing a Reward Deficiency Syndrome Diagnostic Criteria (RDSDC) to assist in potential tertiary treatment

The microstructure of coaching practice:Behaviours and activities of an elite rugby union head coach during preparation and competition

The activities and behaviours of a female head coach of a national rugby union team were recorded in both training and competition, across a whole rugby season, using the newly developed Rugby Coach Activities and Behaviours Instrument (RCABI). The instrument incorporates 24 categories of behaviour, embedded within three forms of activity (training form, playing form and competitive match) and seven sub-activity types. In contrast to traditional drill-based coaching, 58.5% of training time was found to have been spent in playing form activities. Moreover, the proportion of playing form activities increased to a peak average of 83.8% in proximity to the team’s annual international championship. Uniquely, one of the coach’s most prolific behaviours was conferring with associates (23.3%), highlighting the importance of interactions with assistant coaches, medical staff and others in shaping the coaching process. Additionally, the frequencies of key behaviours such as questioning and praise were found to vary between the different activity forms and types, raising questions about previous conceptions of effective coaching practice. The findings are discussed in the light of the Game Sense philosophy and the role of the head coach

Progress report no. 2

Statement of responsibility on title-page reads: Editors: I.A. Forbes, M.J. Driscoll, N.C. Rasmussen, D.D. Lanning and I. Kaplan; Contributors: S.T. Brewer, G.J. Brown, P.DeLaquil, III, M.J. Driscoll, I.A. Forbes, C.W. Forsberg, E.P. Gyftopoulos, P.L. Hendrick, C.S. Kang, I. Kaplan, J.L. Klucar, D.D. Lanning, T.C. Leung, E.A. Mason, N.R. Ortiz, N.A. Passman, N.C. Rasmussen, I.C. Rickard, V.C. Rogers, G.E. Sullivan, A.T. Supple, and C. P. TzanosIncludes bibliographical referencesProgress report; June 30, 1971U.S. Atomic Energy Commission contract AT(11-1)306

Progress report no. 3

Statement of responsibility on title-page reads: editors: M.J. Driscoll, D.D. Lanning, I. Kaplan; contributors: S. T. Brewer, G.J. Brown, P. Delaquil, M.J. Driscoll, G.A. Ducat, I.A. Forbes, M. V. Gregory, S.Y. Ho, M.S. Kalra, C.S. Kang, L.T. Kim, D.D. Lanning, J.L. Lazewatsky, T.C. Leung, E.A. Mason, N.R. Ortiz, N.C. Rasmussen, I.C. Rickard, K.D. Roberson, A.T. Supple, A.M. Thompson, and C.P. TzanosIncludes bibliographical referencesProgress report ; June 30, 1972U.S. Atomic Energy Commission contracts: AT(11-1)306

Different paths to the modern state in Europe: the interaction between domestic political economy and interstate competition

Theoretical work on state formation and capacity has focused mostly on early modern Europe and on the experience of western European states during this period. While a number of European states monopolized domestic tax collection and achieved gains in state capacity during the early modern era, for others revenues stagnated or even declined, and these variations motivated alternative hypotheses for determinants of fiscal and state capacity. In this study we test the basic hypotheses in the existing literature making use of the large date set we have compiled for all of the leading states across the continent. We find strong empirical support for two prevailing threads in the literature, arguing respectively that interstate wars and changes in economic structure towards an urbanized economy had positive fiscal impact. Regarding the main point of contention in the theoretical literature, whether it was representative or authoritarian political regimes that facilitated the gains in fiscal capacity, we do not find conclusive evidence that one performed better than the other. Instead, the empirical evidence we have gathered lends supports to the hypothesis that when under pressure of war, the fiscal performance of representative regimes was better in the more urbanized-commercial economies and the fiscal performance of authoritarian regimes was better in rural-agrarian economie