Exploring the Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Communication through Social Media on Banking Customer E-WOM and Loyalty in Times of Crisis

Previous studies have largely explored corporate social responsibility (CSR) for organizationcentric outcomes to achieve organizational performance, organizational commitment, or organizational citizenship behavior. However, the importance of CSR to achieve customer-centric outcomes is underexplored to date. Contemporary researchers have recently turned their attention toward CSR from the viewpoint of customer-centric outcomes. Therefore, the present study attempts to test the influence of CSR communication on social media and customer loyalty in the banking sector of a developing economy in times of crisis. This study also investigates the mediating effect of electronic word of mouth (E-WOM) with this relationship. The data of the present study were collected from different banking customers using a self-administered questionnaire. The empirical findings of this study validated that the CSR communication of a bank on social media increases customer loyalty, and E-WOM partially mediates this relationship. This study will be helpful for the banking sector to understand the importance of CSR communication to increase customer loyalty, which is very important for every bank in times of crisis

Water Scarcity and Sustainability in an Emerging Economy: A Management Perspective for Future

Water scarcity is rising as a global issue, because the planet earth is facing a global water crisis, which is considered something that can destroy environmental sustainability of our planet. The fact is that humanity’s demand is depleting natural resources faster than nature can replenish itself; if human habits and unsustainable use of water resources do not change, water scarcity will inevitably intensify and become a major cause of conflict among different nations of the world. The water scarcity issue is a crucial issue but unfortunately it has not received due attention in past. Pakistan, which once was a water abundant country, now facing a situation of water scarcity. Pakistan has a poor irrigation system which results 60% loss of its water; Pakistan uses more water for crop production than other countries. Likewise, the country harvests water from rainfall, rivers, snow, and glaciers. The country is facing a serious water crisis that is caused by different factors, such as changing climatic conditions, rising population, poor irrigation system, poor political will, and rapid urbanization. The water crisis of Pakistan is expected to worsen in coming years. This is a drastic situation which calls for emergency measures. With this background, the present study provides a detailed view of the water situation in the country with challenges to water management. The study also suggests some recommendations for policymakers to improve the water crisis situation in the future

Exploring the Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Communication through Social Media on Banking Customer E-WOM and Loyalty in Times of Crisis

Previous studies have largely explored corporate social responsibility (CSR) for organization-centric outcomes to achieve organizational performance, organizational commitment, or organizational citizenship behavior. However, the importance of CSR to achieve customer-centric outcomes is underexplored to date. Contemporary researchers have recently turned their attention toward CSR from the viewpoint of customer-centric outcomes. Therefore, the present study attempts to test the influence of CSR communication on social media and customer loyalty in the banking sector of a developing economy in times of crisis. This study also investigates the mediating effect of electronic word of mouth (E-WOM) with this relationship. The data of the present study were collected from different banking customers using a self-administered questionnaire. The empirical findings of this study validated that the CSR communication of a bank on social media increases customer loyalty, and E-WOM partially mediates this relationship. This study will be helpful for the banking sector to understand the importance of CSR communication to increase customer loyalty, which is very important for every bank in times of crisis

Effect of Low-Energy Nitrogen Ion Implantation on Friction and Wear Properties of Ion-Plated TiC Coating

To further improve the performance of the coated tools, we investigated the effects of low-energy nitrogen ion implantation on surface structure and wear resistance for TiC coatings deposited by ion plating. In this experiment, an implantation energy of 40 keV and a dose of 2 × 1017 to 1 × 1018 (ions/cm2) were used to implant N ions into the TiC coatings. The results indicate that the surface roughness of the coating increases first and then decreases with the increase of ion implantation dose. After ion implantation, the surface of the coating will soften and reduce the hardness, and the production of TiN phase will gradually increase the hardness. Nitrogen ion implantation can reduce the friction coefficient of the TiC coating and improve the friction performance. In terms of wear resistance, the coating with an implant dose of 1×1018 ions/cm2 has the greatest improvement in wear resistance. Tribological analysis shows that the improvement in the performance of TiC coatings implanted with N ions is mainly due to the effect of the lubricating implanted layer. The implanted layer mainly exists in the form of amorphous TiC, TiN phase, and sp2C–C phase

Phase Field Simulation Research on the Microstructural Evolution of Monocrystalline and Polycrystalline Silicon

This work simulates the morphological evolution process of the solidification interface of silicon crystal. Based on the phase field model of single dendrite growth of pure material in a single-phase system, the control equation of the phase field is re-optimized, and an interface free energy anisotropy equation that can simulate the competitive growth of multiple crystal grains is established. The competitive growth of polysilicon is then simulated and analyzed. The results show that when the degree of undercooling exceeds a certain value, the non-facet crystals are transformed into facet crystals. The main branches in each direction are relatively thick when the anisotropy is small. With increasing anisotropy, the main branches in each direction show gradual thinning, and edges and corners appear on the interface. The dendrites are no longer smooth, and they transform from non-facet crystals to facet crystals. The main branches of different grains inhibit each other when multiple crystal grains compete for growth. The growth of the main branches is curved, which is different from existing branches. The experimental results can more realistically simulate the evolution process of single-crystal silicon and polycrystalline silicon crystal micromorphology

Phase Field Simulation Research on the Microstructural Evolution of Monocrystalline and Polycrystalline Silicon

This work simulates the morphological evolution process of the solidification interface of silicon crystal. Based on the phase field model of single dendrite growth of pure material in a single-phase system, the control equation of the phase field is re-optimized, and an interface free energy anisotropy equation that can simulate the competitive growth of multiple crystal grains is established. The competitive growth of polysilicon is then simulated and analyzed. The results show that when the degree of undercooling exceeds a certain value, the non-facet crystals are transformed into facet crystals. The main branches in each direction are relatively thick when the anisotropy is small. With increasing anisotropy, the main branches in each direction show gradual thinning, and edges and corners appear on the interface. The dendrites are no longer smooth, and they transform from non-facet crystals to facet crystals. The main branches of different grains inhibit each other when multiple crystal grains compete for growth. The growth of the main branches is curved, which is different from existing branches. The experimental results can more realistically simulate the evolution process of single-crystal silicon and polycrystalline silicon crystal micromorphology

Electronic Structure and Optical Properties of Cu₂ZnSnS₄ under Stress Effect

By using the pseudopotential plane-wave method of first principles based on density functional theory, the band structure, density of states and optical properties of Cu2ZnSnS4 under isotropic stress are calculated and analyzed. The results show that Cu2ZnSnS4 is a direct band gap semiconductor under isotropic stress, the lattice is tetragonal, and the band gap of Cu2ZnSnS4 is 0.16 eV at 0 GPa. Stretching the lattice causes the bottom of the conduction band of Cu2ZnSnS4 to move toward lower energies, while the top of the valence band remains unchanged and the band gap gradually narrows. Squeezing the lattice causes the bottom of the conduction band to move toward the high-energy direction, while the top of the valence band moves downward toward the low-energy direction, and the Cu2ZnSnS4 band gap becomes larger. The static permittivity, absorption coefficient, reflectivity, refractive index, electrical conductivity, and energy loss function all decrease when the lattice is stretched, and the above optical parameters increase when the lattice is compressed. When the lattice is stretched, the optical characteristic peaks such as the dielectric function shift to the lower-energy direction, while the optical characteristic peak position shifts to the higher-energy direction when the lattice is compressed

Data-Driven Technology in Event-Based Vision

Event cameras which transmit per-pixel intensity changes have emerged as a promising candidate in applications such as consumer electronics, industrial automation, and autonomous vehicles, owing to their efficiency and robustness. To maintain these inherent advantages, the trade-off between efficiency and accuracy stands as a priority in event-based algorithms. Thanks to the preponderance of deep learning techniques and the compatibility between bio-inspired spiking neural networks and event-based sensors, data-driven approaches have become a hot spot, which along with the dedicated hardware and datasets constitute an emerging field named event-based data-driven technology. Focusing on data-driven technology in event-based vision, this paper first explicates the operating principle, advantages, and intrinsic nature of event cameras, as well as background knowledge in event-based vision, presenting an overview of this research field. Then, we explain why event-based data-driven technology becomes a research focus, including reasons for the rise of event-based vision and the superiority of data-driven approaches over other event-based algorithms. Current status and future trends of event-based data-driven technology are presented successively in terms of hardware, datasets, and algorithms, providing guidance for future research. Generally, this paper reveals the great prospects of event-based data-driven technology and presents a comprehensive overview of this field, aiming at a more efficient and bio-inspired visual system to extract visual features from the external environment

Water Scarcity and Sustainability in an Emerging Economy: A Management Perspective for Future

Water scarcity is rising as a global issue, because the planet earth is facing a global water crisis, which is considered something that can destroy environmental sustainability of our planet.The fact is that humanity’s demand is depleting natural resources faster than nature can replenish itself; if human habits and unsustainable use of water resources do not change, water scarcity will inevitably intensify and become a major cause of conflict among different nations of the world. The water scarcity issue is a crucial issue but unfortunately it has not received due attention in past.Pakistan, which once was a water abundant country, now facing a situation of water scarcity. Pakistan has a poor irrigation system which results 60% loss of its water; Pakistan uses more water for crop production than other countries. Likewise, the country harvests water from rainfall, rivers, snow,and glaciers. The country is facing a serious water crisis that is caused by different factors, such as changing climatic conditions, rising population, poor irrigation system, poor political will, and rapid urbanization. The water crisis of Pakistan is expected to worsen in coming years. This is a drastic situation which calls for emergency measures. With this background, the present study provides a detailed view of the water situation in the country with challenges to water management. The study also suggests some recommendations for policymakers to improve the water crisis situation in the future