An Inventory Decision Model of BOPS Retailing Considering Cross-selling

Omnichannel retailing has been getting more and more attention as people’s buying habits become more diverse. BOPS (Buy-on-line, Pick-up-in store) is an important pattern of Omnichannel retailing which has significant impacts on a cross-selling effect and inventory decisions. This paper explores this implementation with cross-selling from a perspective of inventory management by developing and analyzing a mathematical model based on EOQ model. After series of numerical experiments, we found that firms in a perfectly competitive market have motivations to launch BOPS services in most cases, especially when the supply chain structure is centralized. Furthermore, in a decentralized supply chain, if the manufacturer bears the inventory costs generated in B&M stores according to the proportion of BOPS sales when the inventory capacity is not big enough, the retailer can shift a part of costs to the manufacturer by deliberately making biased inventory decisions, and this cost shifting may damage the manufacturer’s motivation to implement BOPS where the cross-selling effect is powerful enough

A systematic review on technology-based instructions to develop English pragmatic competence for non-native speakers

With the rapid development of world Englishes (WEs) and multilingualism, pragmatic failure is still an unsolved matter for non-native speakers (NNSs). Although many studies have paid attention to technology application in second language acquisition (SLA), there are limited systematic reviews concerning technology-based instructions to develop English pragmatic competence for NNSs. This study gains a comprehensive overview to identify the situation and trend of technology-based instructions to develop English pragmatic competence for NNSs based on 20 articles from 2015 to 2023. Various findings indicate that based on technology instructions and technology resources, English pragmatic awareness and multidimensional development should be emphasized to foster English pragmatic competence among NNSs. Implications and suggestions are also provided for further research from this review

Microblog Internet Public Opinion Characteristics and Propagation Mechanisms Analysis—A Case Study on Jiaxin Yao Trial

With its rapid development in recent years, microblog has gradually become the storm center of public opinion and one of the mainstream media. However, behind its flourish, microblog also brings hidden problems such as rumor and defraud, pressing for governance and supervision. With content analysis, this paper studies the heated discussion concerning Jiaxin Yao trial on March 23th, 2011 on Sina microblog. We make sampling analysis of the relevant information on microblog, establish three analytical unit—netizen characteristics, information characteristics and propagation characteristics, and do data statistics after coding. Based on data statistics, an multiple linear regression equation is found to describe the degree of transmission of the topic on microblog, thus outlining a preliminary transmission mechanism of public opinion on microblog. Some suggestions on how to use, supervise and guide the internet public opinion are also included in this paper

Channel selection in e-commerce age: a strategic analysis of co-op advertising models

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and compare two co-op advertising models: advertising model under traditional channel and co-op advertising model under dual channel, to select optimal channel structure to sell products for manufacturer and to derive optimal co-op advertising strategies for the manufacturer and the retailer. Design/methodology/approach: Stackelberg game theoretical is used to develop two co-op advertising models: co-op advertising model under traditional channel and co-op advertising model under dual channel. Then we compare the two models to select optimal channel structure to sell products for manufacturer and to derive optimal co-op advertising strategies for the manufacturer and the retailer. Furthermore, we analyze the impact of product web-fit on these optimal strategies and illustrate by some numeral examples. Based on our results, we provide some significant theories and managerial insights, and derive some probable paths of future research. Findings: We provide a framework for researching optimal co-op advertising strategies in a two-level supply chain considering different marketing channel structures. First, we discuss the traditional channel co-op adverting model and the dual channel co-op advertising model based on Stackelberg game theoretical, and we derive optimal co-op advertising strategies. Next, comparisons of these two channel structures are discussed and we find that the manufacturer always benefits from dual channel. But the retailer not always benefits from dual channel structure, and dual channel structure is better than retail channel with certain conditions. Also, the optimal co-op advertising strategies for the manufacturer and the retailer are obtained. Research limitations/implications: First, we focus on the aforementioned two channel structures; a further comparison with other channel structures can be investigated. Second, we ignore some factors that influence the demand of product, such as service and price. We can do some researches from the point of these factors. Third, how demand uncertainty affects the channel selection and co-op advertising strategy is another interesting research item. Practical implications: The manufacturer and the retailer know that the impact of co-op adverting on the demands of traditional channel and direct channel, both would like to choose reasonable strategies to improve the channel coordination. Therefore, it would be best if business managers conduct market survey before they start their co-op advertising campaign. Originality/value: Two new co-op advertising models in E-commerce age are developed, and the impact of product web-fit on these optimal strategies are analyzed and illustrate by some numeral examples. In addition, optimal channel structure in E-commerce age are selected for manufacturer and the retailerPeer Reviewe

The effects of corn silk on glycaemic metabolism

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Corn silk contains proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, Ca, K, Mg and Na salts, fixed and volatile oils, steroids such as sitosterol and stigmasterol, alkaloids, saponins, tannins, and flavonoids. Base on folk remedies, corn silk has been used as an oral antidiabetic agent in China for decades. However, the hypoglycemic activity of it has not yet been understood in terms of modern pharmacological concepts. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of corn silk on glycaemic metabolism.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Alloxan and adrenalin induced hyperglycemic mice were used in the study. The effects of corn silk on blood glucose, glycohemoglobin (HbA1c), insulin secretion, damaged pancreatic β-cells, hepatic glycogen and gluconeogenesis in hyperglycemic mice were studied respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After the mice were orally administered with corn silk extract, the blood glucose and the HbA1c were significantly decreased in alloxan-induced hyperglycemic mice (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, respectively), while the level of insulin secretionn was markedly elevated in alloxa-induced hyperglycemic mice (p < 0.05). The alloxan-damaged pancreatic β-cells of the mice were partly recovered gradually after the mice were administered with corn silk extract 15 days later. Also, the body weight of the alloxan-induced hyperglycemic mice was increased gradually. However, ascension of blood glucose induced by adrenalin and gluconeogenesis induced by L-alanine were not inhibited by corn silk extract treatment (p > 0.05). Although corn silk extract increased the level of hepatic glycogen in the alloxan-induced hyperglycemic mice, there was no significant difference between them and that of the control group(p > 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Corn silk extract markedly reduced hyperglycemia in alloxan-induced diabetic mice. The action of corn silk extract on glycaemic metabolism is not via increasing glycogen and inhibiting gluconeogenesis but through increasing insulin level as well as recovering the injured β-cells. The results suggest that corn silk extract may be used as a hypoglycemic food or medicine for hyperglycemic people in terms of this modern pharmacological study.</p

Epitope mapping by a Wnt-blocking antibody: evidence of the Wnt binding domain in heparan sulfate

Heparan sulfate (HS) is a polysaccharide known to modulate many important biological processes, including Wnt signaling. However, the biochemical interaction between HS and Wnt molecules is not well characterized largely due to the lack of suitable methods. To determine the Wnt binding domain in HS, we used a Wnt signaling-inhibitory antibody (HS20) and a panel of synthetic HS oligosaccharides with distinct lengths and sulfation modifications. We found that the binding of HS20 to heparan sulfate required sulfation at both the C2 position (2-O-sulfation) and C6 position (6-O-sulfation). The oligosaccharides with the greatest competitive effect for HS20 binding were between six and eight saccharide residues in length. Additionally, a four residue-long oligosaccharide could also be recognized by HS20 if an additional 3-O-sulfation modification was present. Furthermore, similar oligosaccharides with 2-O, 6-O and 3-O-sulfations showed inhibition for Wnt activation. These results have revealed that HS20 and Wnt recognize a HS structure containing IdoA2S and GlcNS6S, and that the 3-O-sulfation in GlcNS6S3S significantly enhances the binding of both HS20 and Wnt. This study provides the evidence for identifying the Wnt binding domain in HS and suggests a therapeutic approach to target the interaction of Wnt and HS in cancer and other diseases

A Model of Customer Lifetime Value Consider with Word-of-mouth Marketing Value

With the rapid development of IT technology and fierce competition of market, the customer relationship management(CRM) has gained its importance in the market. Companies have attached importance to acquiring and retaining the most profitable customers. So calculating customer’s value is a significant segment for every effective CRM. Many researches have been performed to calculate customer’s value based on customer lifetime value (LTV). But, these calculations can’t effectively include the whole customer value, especially for the word-of-mouth marketing value. This paper proposes a new LTV model which considers the customer’s past profit contribution, potential value and word-of-mouth marketing value, and gives a more reasonable LTV value in CRM for the company to make a decision

TRAC: A Textual Benchmark for Reasoning about Actions and Change

Reasoning about actions and change (RAC) is essential to understand and interact with the ever-changing environment. Previous AI research has shown the importance of fundamental and indispensable knowledge of actions, i.e., preconditions and effects. However, traditional methods rely on logical formalization which hinders practical applications. With recent transformer-based language models (LMs), reasoning over text is desirable and seemingly feasible, leading to the question of whether LMs can effectively and efficiently learn to solve RAC problems. We propose four essential RAC tasks as a comprehensive textual benchmark and generate problems in a way that minimizes the influence of other linguistic requirements (e.g., grounding) to focus on RAC. The resulting benchmark, TRAC, encompassing problems of various complexities, facilitates a more granular evaluation of LMs, precisely targeting the structural generalization ability much needed for RAC. Experiments with three high-performing transformers indicates that additional efforts are needed to tackle challenges raised by TRAC

A comment on "Ab initio calculations of pressure-dependence of high-order elastic constants using finite deformations approach" by I. Mosyagin, A.V. Lugovskoy, O.M. Krasilnikov, Yu.Kh. Vekilov, S.I. Simak and I.A. Abrikosov

Recently, I. Mosyagin, A.V. Lugovskoy, O.M. Krasilnikov, Yu.Kh. Vekilov, S.I. Simak and I.A. Abrikosov in the paper: "Ab initio calculations of pressure-dependence of high-order elastic constants using finite deformations approach"[Computer Physics Communications 220 (2017) 2030] presented a description of a technique for ab initio calculations of the pressure dependence of second- and third-order elastic constants. Unfortunately, the work contains serious and fundamental flaws in the field of finite-deformation solid mechanics.Comment: 3 pages, 0 figure