Developing trends in showrooming, webrooming, and omnichannel shopping behaviors: Performance analysis, conceptual mapping, and future directions

In an omnichannel era, businesses and marketers need insights into the dynamics of customer shopping behaviors, particularly the interplay between omnichannel, showrooming, and webrooming behaviors. This study investigates the evolution and trends of the research and channel shopping behaviors (RCSB) domain, spanning from 1998 to 2022, including the Covid-19 era. The study performed a bibliometric review of 500 papers in the Scopus database. The performance analysis reveals an annual growth rate of nearly 16%, with average citations per document of 44, indicating sustained and growing research interest. Science mapping revealed five distinct cluster themes, including showrooming and webrooming in multi- and omni-channel contexts; consumer behavior in online retail and shopping; customer satisfaction and trust in multi-channel retailing; mobile commerce in a multi-channel environment; and the interplay between online shopping, channel choice, and supply chain management. Furthermore, topics, such as showrooming, e-commerce, retailing, and omnichannel retailing, remain popular before and during the pandemic, as seen in the thematic evolution. Our examination of the thematic maps revealed various topics that gained significance during the pandemic, such as multichannel, channel choice, customer experience, social commerce, purchase behavior, and covid-19. Among these, the thematic maps indicate that customer experience, channel choice, multichannel, and covid-19 are emerging and basic topics. These topics can steer research directions in the RCSB domain toward examining customer experiences using digital innovations, e-commerce (including mobile and social commerce), and omnichannel strategy and management

Simulation based comparative analysis of manet routing protocols using multiple traffic types

Ad hoc networks are self-configuring self-healing, self-managing and self-forming networks. If two or more parties want to communicate with each other with in radio range there is no need of any centralized node like conventional client server architecture. In ad hoc network each node has two roles at the same time, host and router. Nodes can communicate with each other if they are directly in range either other nodes help to communicate by forwarding packet from source to destination. Wireless routing is much difficult as compared to wired. Error correction and detection, channel access, hidden and exposed terminal problem, limited bandwidth, fading, mobility of nodes, weather problems etc. all things are big challenges in wireless routing. This paper is on behavioral analysis of ad hoc network routing protocols on different metrics by using OPNET Modeler Educational version. The metrics used are throughput, delay, load etc. while using different traffic types e.g. Video, Email, HTTP, FTP etc. Results showed that OLSR worked the best under the created scenarios

Investigating the activity of modified TiO2 photocatalysts used for the photoreforming of biomass derivatives

Different TiO2 modified (with Pt, Cu2O, Nb) photocatalysts have been compared for the photo-reforming of glucose and fructose at ambient conditions with the aim of linking the photoactivity to some structural and surface characteristics. A different degree of conversion, distribution of intermediates and H2 production were observed with the various photocatalysts. Moreover, the results obtained with the same catalysts were slightly different with the two substrates, highlighting the importance of the interaction between the catalyst surface and the organic compound. Bare TiO2 was inactive towards H2 production, Cu2O was effective in replacing Pt for hydrogen generation, and the presence of Pt/Nb was beneficial for both H2 production and selective oxidation. Moreover, Pt not only works as a sink for the photoproduced electrons, as it is well known in the literature, but also modifies the surface acid-base properties of catalysts as revealed by DRIFT and TPD measurements

Computing the Parametric Geo-Accumulation and Ecological Risk Indices of Some Heavy Metals Along on, Charsadda-Peshawar Road, Pakistan

Charsadda to Peshawar road is characterized with diverse surrounding environment of residential settlements,industrial zones, commercial and agricultural sectors along with heavy traffic route which is contributing to heavy metalpollution. This study is focused on heavy metals: Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr) and Lead (Pb) contribution to theatmospheric pollution level. The heavy metals pollution assessment is carried out by sample collection (soil dust samplesand two vegetation species Cyperus esculentus and Cynodon dactylon) from ten sites along the road which were analyzedby using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). Average values of pollution index (PI) as well as average value ofpollution load index (PLI) for Cr, Cd and Pb in case of Cyperus esculentus, Cynodon dactylon and dust were calculated.Geo-accumulation index of roadside dust for Cr, Cd and Pb were estimated along with ecological risk due to roadsidedust using potential ecological risk index (RI). The analyses of this study suggest that the indices for the Cd metal foundto be of more concern than Cr or Pb which correspond to middle or low level of pollution. Statistical analysis revealedthat the three metals had a weak to moderate relationship with one another indicating multiple and somewhat similarsources of pollution

Acute Gastrointestinal Bleeding in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background/Aims More than 100 million people to date have been affected by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Patients with COVID-19 have a higher risk of bleeding complications. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the outcomes of COVID-19 patients with signs and symptoms of acute gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). Methods A systematic literature search was carried out for articles published until until November 11, 2020, in the Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases. We included studies on COVID-19 patients with signs and symptoms of GIB. Results Our search yielded 49 studies, of which eight with a collective 127 patients (86 males and 41 females) met our inclusion criteria. Conservative management alone was performed in 59% of the patients, endoscopic evaluation in 31.5%, and interventional radiology (IR) embolization in 11%. Peptic ulcer disease was the most common endoscopic finding, diagnosed in 47.5% of the patients. Pooled overall mortality was 19.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]; 12.7%-27.6%) and pooled mortality secondary to GIB was 3.5% (95% CI; 1.3%–9.1%). The pooled risk of rebleeding was 11.3% (95% CI; 6.8%–18.4%). Conclusions The majority of COVID-19 patients with GIB responded to conservative management, with a low mortality rate associated with GIB and the risk of rebleeding. Thus, we suggest limiting endoscopic and IR interventions to those with hemodynamic instability and those for whom conservative management was unsuccessful

Biochar: A promising soil amendment to mitigate heavy metals toxicity in plants

Heavy metals (HMs) toxicity is serious abiotic stress that is significantly reducing crop productivity and posing a serious threat to human health, soil and environmental quality. Therefore, it is urgently needed to find appropriate measures to mitigate the adverse impacts of HMs on soil, plants, humans and the environment. Biochar (BC) has emerged as an excellent soil amendment to minimize the adverse impacts of HMs and to improve soil fertility and environmental quality. Biochar application decreases HMs uptake and their translocation to plant parts by forming complexes and precipitation. Biochar also has improved soil pH, soil fertility and soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) and it also increases adsorption of HMs thus reduces their mobility and subsequent availability to plants. BC application also maintains membrane stability and improves uptake of nutrients, osmolytes accumulation, antioxidant activities, and gene expression, therefore, improves the plant performance under HMs stress. Biochar application also improves the photosynthetic performance by increasing the synthesis of photosynthetic pigments, stomata conductance and increasing the water uptake by plants. Besides this, BC also scavenges ROS by increasing the antioxidant activities, gene expression, and accumulation of proline in HMs contaminated soils. This review highlights the role of BC to mitigate the HMs toxicity in plants. We have discussed the role of BC in the modification of soil properties to induce tolerance against HMs toxicity. Moreover, we have discussed various mechanisms mediated by BC at the plant level to induce tolerance against HMs. Additionally, we also identified research gaps that must be fulfilled in future research studies

Pt-Nb2O5-TiO2 based semiconductors for photo-reforming of glucose and fructose aqueous solutions

The conversion of biomass derivatives into fuels and valuable compounds under green conditions is increasingly attracting the attention of the scientific community. In this study, the photo-reforming of aqueous glucose and fructose solutions in the presence of 0.5 wt% Pt-loaded homemade bare and Nb2O5-TiO2 catalysts was investigated to maximize the activity of titania for both hydrogen production and valuable chemical production. The most efficient sample was the home-prepared Pt-4 %Nb2O5-HP, for both glucose and fructose conversion, with the highest H2 productivity and the highest selectivity towards partially oxidized compounds. The behaviour of the Pt-4 %Nb2O5-HP derives from a favourable compromise of some surface and intrinsic electronic properties as, for instance, photoluminescence, zeta potential and surface acidity. The presence of Nb2O5 decreased the recombination rate of photoproduced charges. Photo-deposition of Pt was essential for H2 production and, surprisingly, also increased the basicity of the TiO2 surface; an increase in surface acidity was measured when only niobium oxide was added, whereas stronger basic sites were observed in the simultaneous presence of Pt and niobium oxide

The Outcome of Bicolumnar Acetabular Fracture Treated by Single Anterior Ilioinguinal Approach

Background: Acetabular fracture therapy, being complicated, is generally treated by non-operative methods due to a lack of surgeons’ expertise in pelvis surgery. The surgical exposure and reduction of acetabular fractures may become more direct and practical with the altered technique since it is closer to the acetabular quadrilateral plate. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of a single anterior illio-inguinal approach for the management of a Bi-columnar acetabulum fracture. Methods: Sixty patients, fulfilling the selection criteria were selected for descriptive case series from Orthopedic Surgery Department at Lahore General Hospital, from 02-12-2020 to 02-06-2021. After informed consent, surgery was performed on all patients under general anesthesia. Patients were followed-up and evaluated for efficacy in OPD after 12 weeks of surgery with a Harris hip score. All demographic and other information was recorded on a Proforma. SPSS 22 was used to assess data. Post-stratification, efficacy was compared by using chi-square, p-value ≤0.05 was considered significant. Results: Out of 60 patients, 45(75 %) were male, whereas 15(25%) were female (Mean age 52.71±10.50yrs). The Mean of duration fracture (in days) and Harris score are 11.03±5.29 and 2.83±0.45 respectively. The efficacy concerning lateral side was 60% for left side and 26.7% for right side. Efficacy was higher in less than 10 days old fractures at 55.0% while after 10 days it was 31.7%. We found that the percentage of efficacy was 86.7%. Conclusion: The current study concluded that the anterior illio-inguinal approach is highly effective (p=0.001) in the management of acetabular fractures. Keywords: Acetabulum; Pelvic; Fracture; General Surgery

Leadership and Decision Making among SMEs: Management Accounting Information and the Moderating Role of Cloud Computing

With the changing paradigm of the world and highly competitive business environments, organizations are encountered different challenges. This paper investigates the relationship between management accounting information (MAI) and decision-making and the role of cloud computing among small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan. In particular, the focus of this paper is on the influence of MAI on decision-making. Cloud computing is a modern technology to strengthen relationships. A quantitative research design that involves printed questionnaires was used to analyze the relationships of the variables