Dinner at Your Doorstep: Service Innovation via the Gig Economy on Food Delivery Platforms

Boosted by greater demand for convenience and then turbocharged by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, online food delivery (OFD) has witnessed rapid growth over the past several years. Despite such growth, however, it is still unclear how incentives and payoffs of various parties are affected by the three-sidedness of the OFD market, which involves consumers, restaurants, and gig drivers—beyond the traditional two-sided setting. In this paper, we study the OFD platforms’ optimal choices in a competitive setting where the platforms compete on both prices and service quality. Our analysis shows that conventional insights from two-sided platforms do not completely carry over to OFD markets. Specifically, we find that the three-sidedness may either soften or intensify the price competition in the buyer-seller market, consequently altering the subsidizing conditions of OFD platforms. Although two-sided platforms generally get hurt by network effects because of the pressure to induce participation, OFD platforms are able to mitigate such negative impact by flexibly adjusting their service strategies. Yet, OFD platforms may not always be better off by introducing gig labor because additional leverage for competing platforms could lead to a prisoner’s dilemma situation. We show further how the platforms’ pricing and service strategies critically depend on the strength of network effects. With the rising of the gig economy, the question of employment status for gig workers has become an increasingly controversial issue in the United States and elsewhere. We address this by showing that the introduction of minimum wage regulation, although benefiting the gig drivers, may be welfare diminishing to society at large. Our results can thus provide guidance to policy makers seeking a compromise between the interests of gig workers and society as a whole

Strategic Analysis of Dual Sourcing and Dual Channel with an Unreliable Alternative Supplier

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148383/1/poms12938_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148383/2/poms12938.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148383/3/poms12938-sup-0001-AppendixS1.pd

Towards Structural Systems Pharmacology to Study Complex Diseases and Personalized Medicine

Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), whole genome sequencing, and high-throughput omics techniques have generated vast amounts of genotypic and molecular phenotypic data. However, these data have not yet been fully explored to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of drug discovery, which continues along a one-drug-one-target-one-disease paradigm. As a partial consequence, both the cost to launch a new drug and the attrition rate are increasing. Systems pharmacology and pharmacogenomics are emerging to exploit the available data and potentially reverse this trend, but, as we argue here, more is needed. To understand the impact of genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors on drug action, we must study the structural energetics and dynamics of molecular interactions in the context of the whole human genome and interactome. Such an approach requires an integrative modeling framework for drug action that leverages advances in data-driven statistical modeling and mechanism-based multiscale modeling and transforms heterogeneous data from GWAS, high-throughput sequencing, structural genomics, functional genomics, and chemical genomics into unified knowledge. This is not a small task, but, as reviewed here, progress is being made towards the final goal of personalized medicines for the treatment of complex diseases

Synthesis of a Dual Functional Anti-MDR Tumor Agent PH II-7 with Elucidations of Anti-Tumor Effects and Mechanisms

Multidrug resistance mediated by P-glycoprotein in cancer cells has been a major issue that cripples the efficacy of chemotherapy agents. Aimed for improved efficacy against resistant cancer cells, we designed and synthesized 25 oxindole derivatives based on indirubin by structure-activity relationship analysis. The most potent one was named PH II-7, which was effective against 18 cancer cell lines and 5 resistant cell lines in MTT assay. It also significantly inhibited the resistant xenograft tumor growth in mouse model. In cell cycle assay and apoptosis assay conducted with flow cytometry, PH II-7 induced S phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis even in resistant cells. Consistently revealed by real-time PCR, it modulates the expression of genes related to the cell cycle and apoptosis in these cells, which may contributes to its efficacy against them. By side-chain modification and FITC-labeling of PH II-7, we were able to show with confocal microscopy that not only it was not pumped by P-glycoprotein, it also attenuated the efflux of Adriamycin by P-glycoprotein in MDR tumor cells. Real-time PCR and western blot analysis showed that PH II-7 down-regulated MDR1 gene via protein kinase C alpha (PKCA) pathway, with c-FOS and c-JUN as possible mediators. Taken together, PH II-7 is a dual-functional compound that features both the cytotoxicity against cancer cells and the inhibitory effect on P-gp mediated drug efflux

Body Weight, Weight Self-Perception, Weight Teasing and Their Association with Health Behaviors among Chinese Adolescents-The Shanghai Youth Health Behavior Survey

Weight-related status has been associated with the physical and psychological health of adolescents. This cross-sectional study evaluated three different kinds of weight-related statuses (Body Mass Index (BMI), weight self-perception and weight teasing from others) among Chinese adolescents and identified their associations with health risk behaviors (lack of healthy dietary behavior, unhealthy dietary behavior, binge eating behavior, lack of physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviors (SB) and sleep disturbance). A stratified random cluster sampling method was used to select 10,070 students aged 11-18 years old from schools in Shanghai. Self-reported questionnaires were collected, weight-related statuses were divided into three categories and six specific health risk behaviors were classified into two groups: positive or negative. Overall, 27.82% of the adolescents were classified as being overweight and obese (35.61% of boys and 18.21% of girls), 43.45% perceived themselves as too heavy and 30.46% experienced weight teasing in the past. Among overweight or obese participants, 50.55% have been teased about their weight, and 77.48% perceived themselves as too heavy. Weight perception and weight teasing were significantly associated with health risk behaviors rather than the actual body weight status based on BMI, especially regarding binge eating behavior (body weight status (BMI): \u3e 0.05, underweight perception: OR = 1.18, 95%CI 1.03-1.34; weight teasing for more than once a year: OR = 2.00, 95%CI 1.76-2.27). In addition, weight perception and weight teasing were significantly associated with health risk behaviors, mainly in normal and overweight/obese groups but not in underweight groups. Weight teasing and weight self-perception play an independent and stronger role than actual body weight in the health behaviors of adolescents. This calls for more attention and intervention to reduce peer bullying and stigmas on weight among adolescents

Altruism or Shrewd Business? Implications of Technology Openness on Innovations and Competition

In today’s highly competitive business environment, a growing number of high-tech firms are opening their technologies. We explore the rationale behind this unusual sharing behavior in order to understand whether it is altruism or a shrewd business move. We construct an analytical model where competing firms can choose technology openness, prototype release, or technology closedness as the technology openness strategy and make subsequent innovations on the adopted technology. In contrast to literature focusing on the demand side, our study reveals a novel explanation by shedding light on two effects of supply side. First, openness generates an information effect through which it reveals technology information to the competitor. Second, openness might also lead to an access effect in which the competitor might become a “copycat” by exerting a learning effort. Our analysis suggests that a firm’s openness decision depends upon the trade-off between both effects, and the interplay is moderated by the learning costs. We find that sharing technology can alleviate costly innovation competition under certain conditions. More importantly, our results reveal that openness does not necessarily translate to higher innovation and greater consumer surplus as conventional wisdom suggests. We also illustrate the robustness of the basic rationale and enrich our findings through several extended models

Current assessment of weight, dietary and physical activity behaviors among middle and high school students in shanghai, china—a 2019 cross-sectional study

Poor nutrition or insufficient physical activity (PA) are risk factors for obesity and chronic diseases. This 2019 cross-sectional study from the school health survey examined the dietary and PA behaviors of Chinese adolescents. A total of 12,860 adolescents aged 11–18 participated through multistage and stratified cluster random sampling. A questionnaire collected data on weight, PA, sedentary lifestyle, and eating habits. Unhealthy behaviors were identified and summed up for each behavior. Participants were then classified into high and low amounts of risk behaviors. Weight status was defined using Body Mass Index (BMI) cutoff points for Chinese individuals aged 6–18. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess effects of lifestyle behaviors on weight status. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 22.3% among all participants (30.6% in boys, 13.2% in girls). Females engaged in more risk physical activities (4.12 vs. 3.80, p \u3c 0.05), while males engaged in more risk dietary activities (2.20 vs. 2.02, p \u3c 0.05). Higher number of risk dietary, PA, and sedentary behaviors were all significantly correlated with higher BMI (dietary: r = 0.064; PA: r = 0.099; sedentary: r = 0.161; p \u3c 0.001 for all) and body weight (dietary: r = 0.124; PA: r = 0.128; sedentary: r = 0.222; p \u3c 0.001 for all). Risk sedentary behaviors was a significant risk factor for overweight/obesity (Adjusted Odds Ratio AOR = 1.30, 95% Confidence Interval CI 1.11–1.52). Obesity and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors remain a concern among Chinese adolescents. These results provide an update on the factors contributing to overweight/obesity among adolescents and call for efforts to address obesity among adolescents

Online E-Cigarette Information Exposure and Its Association with E-Cigarette Use among Adolescents in Shanghai, China

E-cigarettes are widely advertised, while the potential risks of e-cigarette use have been reported among adolescents. This study assessed online e-cigarette information exposure and its association with adolescents’ e-cigarette use in Shanghai, China. A total of 12,470 students aged 13–18 years participated. A questionnaire collected information on students’ sociodemographic factors, e-cigarette information exposure, cigarette use, e-cigarette use, and e-cigarette use intention. A multivariate logistic regression was performed to assess correlates of exposure to e-cigarette information and the association between e-cigarette information exposure and e-cigarette use. Overall, 73.9% of students knew about e-cigarettes and the primary sources of information were the internet (42.4%), movies/TV (36.4%), bulletin boards in retail stores or supermarkets (34.9%), advertising flyers (33.9%), and friends (13.8%). Students who had friends using e-cigarettes were curious about e-cigarettes and showed a greater monthly allowance; smokers and females were at a higher risk of social media and website exposure. Moreover, online information exposure (social media exposure, website exposure, and total internet exposure) was significantly associated with the intention to use e-cigarettes. The enforcement of regulations on online e-cigarette content should be implemented. Moreover, efforts to prevent young people from using e-cigarettes may benefit from targeting students at a higher risk of online e-cigarette information exposure