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Our study is inspired by the rapid growth of consumer-to-consumer (C2C) media platforms such as TikTok. There are three key findings. First, we show that when content pieces on the platform are longer, viewers set a higher standard of match value in selecting content to view, leading to a lower click-through rate of contributed content on the platform. This finding suggests that a tight limit on content length increases click-through rate. Second, we show that extended content length on the platform first enhances platform performance but then hurts its performance, following an inverted U-shape curve. This pattern holds true for short-term performance measured by viewer traffic and total viewing time, as well as for long-term performance measured by total consumer surplus. This finding suggests the existence of an optimal content length. Third, we find that the optimal content length maximizing viewer traffic is smaller than the one maximizing total viewing time, which is further smaller than the one maximizing consumer surplus. As such, a platform that switches the strategic focus from short-term advertising revenue to long-term growth will benefit from extending the content length limit. Our study is inspired by the rapid growth of consumer-to-consumer (C2C) media platforms such as TikTok. We adopt a classical economical approach to modeling how utility-maximizing consumers select content pieces to view on a C2C media platform through a sequential inspection process and investigate how a platform in pursuit of market performance can devise an optimal policy on content length limit to induce desired viewer behaviors. First, we show that when content on the platform are longer, viewers set a higher standard of match value in selecting content to view, leading to a lower click-through rate of contributed content on the platform. This finding suggests that a tight limit on content length increases click-through rate. Second, we show that extended content length on the platform first enhances platform performance but then hurts its performance, following an inverted U-shape curve. This pattern holds true for short-term performance measured by viewer traffic and total viewing time, as well as for long-term performance measured by total consumer surplus. This finding suggests the existence of an optimal content length. Third, we find that the optimal content length that maximizes viewer traffic is smaller than that maximizes total viewing time, which is further smaller than that maximizes consumer surplus. As such, a platform that switches the strategic focus from short-term advertising revenue to long-term growth will benefit from extending content length limit. History: Karthik Kannan, Senior Editor; Zhengrui Jiang, Associate Editor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. We develop a game-theoretic model to explore why retail clusters are so popular in developing economies and when governments should facilitate the formation of retail clusters to improve social [...]

Tetracycline (TC) is a widely used antibiotic that adversely affects ecosystems and, therefore, must be removed from the environment. Owing to their strong ability to oxidise pollutants, including antibiotics, and selectivity for these pollutants, an improved oxidation method based on sulphate radicals (SO4·−) has gained considerable interest. In this study, a novel technique for removing TC was developed by activating peroxymonosulphate (PMS) using a ZnFe2O4 catalyst. Using the co-precipitation method, a ZnFe2O4 catalyst was prepared by doping zinc into iron-based materials, which increased the redox cycle, while PMS was active and facilitated the production of free radicals. According to electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy results, a ZnFe2O4 catalyst may activate PMS and generate SO4·−, HO·, O2·−, and 1O2 to eliminate TC. This research offers a new method for creating highly effective heterogeneous catalysts that can activate PMS and destroy antibiotics. The study proposes the following degradation pathways: hydroxylation and ring-opening of TC based on the products identified using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. These results illustrated that the prepared ZnFe2O4 catalyst effectively removed TC and exhibited excellent catalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a make-to-order manufacturing company adopts a commit-to-delivery business mode, it commits a delivery due date for an order and is responsible for the shipping cost. Without loss of generality, [...]

Service contracts are common practice in some industries while being eliminated in others. To investigate this phenomenon, we identify expectation–reality discrepancy (ERD) as a key determinant. A provider's ERD is defined as consumers' ex‐ante expected valuation minus their ex‐post realized valuation of the provider's service. Our analysis reveals that providers' contract strategies critically depend on their ERDs rather than the true service valuations. A provider with a higher ERD is more likely to enforce contracts, regardless of whether the true service valuation is higher than that of the competitor. Providers should enforce contracts only when they have positive ERDs. Furthermore, contracts have a competition‐intensifying effect: when providers enforce contracts, their competition on promoting consumer expectations through marketing efforts is intensified, leading to higher ERDs with contracts than without contracts. Finally, consumers and society as a whole may benefit from higher switching costs because positive ERDs may mislead consumers to make wrong switching decisions and switching costs can help deter such switching behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem definition: With the development of the internet and e-commerce, retailers often offer preorders for new, to-be-released products. To encourage preorders, retailers such as Amazon offer preorder price guarantee (PG). That is, if the product price drops before or on the release date, preorder consumers automatically receive a refund for the difference between the preorder price and the new price. Should retailers offer PG for preorders? If so, how should they decide the prices and inventory level? Academic/practical relevance: Both advance selling and price matching have been observed in practice and studied in literature. However, the combination of these two is a new phenomenon in practice and receives very limited attention in academic. So our study is closely related to both academic and practical communities. Methodology: Dynamic pricing and game theory. Results: We find that, if preorder demand uncertainty is high, a firm should adopt PG in advance selling. If preorder demand uncertainty is low, then a firm should adopt PG if and only if the percentage of high-valuation consumers is high. Furthermore, we find that a firm's optimal profit under PG monotonically increases in preorder demand uncertainty while the firm's optimal profit without PG stays unchanged. That is, PG enables a firm to profit from preorder demand uncertainty. In addition, we show that price commitment is dominated by dynamic pricing when the retailer can optimally decide whether to offer PG under dynamic pricing. We also demonstrate that a retailer should sell in advance if a product's marginal cost is less than a certain threshold, which is higher than the traditional threshold in the advance selling literature without consideration of PG. Managerial implications: Our results provide guidance for retailers on whether or not they should offer PG and how to design the prices under PG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Galectin‐3 plays an important role in cell‐cell adhesion, macrophage activation, angiogenesis, metastasis and apoptosis and is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer. We explored the importance of galectin‐3 in the screening, early diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic effect evaluation of pancreatic cancer. A time‐resolved fluorescence immunoassay was performed to detect serum galectin‐3 level. Serum samples were collected from healthy controls and patients with pancreatic cancer before and after different treatments, and the relationships between galectin‐3 level and clinical parameters were analysed. Among the healthy controls, one individual with an abnormally high concentration of galectin‐3 (9.85 μg/L) was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Compared to the pre‐operative level, galectin‐3 concentration significantly decreased in patients with radical excision 1 month after surgery (P <.05), but showed no obvious change in patients who underwent palliative resection. Additionally, among patients with radical excision, carcinoma recurrence rate was significantly higher in those with increased or unchanged galectin‐3 level. Retrospective analysis revealed the extraordinarily high value and high specificity of galectin‐3 for predicting 3‐year survival (P <.001). Thus, galectin‐3 may serve as a potential biomarker for the screening and early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and as an independent prognostic indicator in patients with pancreatic cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between serum uric acid level and central body fat distribution in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Methods: A total of 867 patients with T2DM were enrolled. Measurements of central fat distribution were obtained by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Patients were stratified into three groups according to their levels of serum uric acid (SUA). Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the association between SUA and central body fat distribution. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the risk factors for hyperuricemia (HUA). Mediation analysis was applied to assess the overall, direct, and indirect mediators of SUA levels. Results: Multiple linear regression analysis showed that SUA levels were significantly positively correlated with waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), visceral adipose tissue (VAT), subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), Android fat mass, Gynoid fat mass, fasting c-peptide (F-CP), and area under the curve of C-peptide (P < 0.05 for all). VAT [odds ratio (OR), 2.367; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.078– 5.197; P < 0.001)], WC (OR, 1.041; 95% CI, 1.011– 1.072; P < 0.001), high-density lipoprotein (OR, 0.274; 95% CI, 0.104– 0.727; P < 0.001), and estimated glomerular filtration rate (OR, 0.966; 95% CI, 0.959– 0.973; P < 0.001) were found to be independent risk factors for T2DM patients with HUA. After mediation analysis, BMI and central obesity were found to have different partial effects on the association between SUA and F-CP (P < 0.001). Conclusion: In patients with T2DM, HUA was positively correlated with F-CP and central body fat distribution, especially VAT. These results suggest that central obesity may play a role in the positive correlation between HUA and insulin resistance (IR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reward advertising is an emerging monetization mechanism for app developers in which consumers choose to view ads in exchange for apps' premium content. We provide the first economic analysis of reward advertising by studying the implications of offering reward ads, either by itself, or in conjunction with direct selling of premium content. We find that the condition for offering reward ads is surprisingly simple, and it is often optimal to offer reward ads jointly with direct selling of premium content. Interestingly, a high reward rate could decrease the number of reward ads viewed because of accelerated satiation for premium content; thus, developers need to balance the need to incentivize ad viewing and to prevent excessive accelerated satiation. The need for limiting the number of reward ads per consumer only arises when the marginal revenue of reward ads diminishes quickly. Such limit is only effective when the base ad revenue rate is not too high and when ad viewers have relatively homogenous nuisance costs. Finally, reward ads may increase or decrease consumer surplus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advance selling (AS) from a retailer to consumers is commonly observed in practice. With an AS capability, a retailer has the option to sell in advance or not. Having the AS option seems to increase flexibility and thus profit for a retailer. However, we show that the AS option can hurt the retailer's profit as well as supply chain performance. We identify two thresholds for a product's marginal production cost. A retailer's AS option benefits both the manufacturer and retailer when the marginal production cost is high, that is, above both thresholds. It benefits the manufacturer but hurts the retailer when the marginal production cost is moderate, that is, between the two thresholds. The result is ambiguous when the marginal production cost is low, that is, below both thresholds. We find that consumer valuation uncertainty under AS is the key driving force for the surprising result that having the retailer's AS option can hurt the retailer. When compared to the scenario where the retailer does not have the AS option, we find that the manufacturer's optimal wholesale price weakly decreases under the retailer's AS option if the marginal production cost is high. The statement is reversed if the marginal production cost is moderate or low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In today's competitive market, demand volume and even the underlying demand distribution can change quickly for a newsvendor seller. We refer to sudden changes in demand distribution as demand shocks. When a newsvendor seller has limited demand distribution information and also experiences underlying demand shocks, the majority of existing methods for newsvendor problems may not work well since they either require demand distribution information or assume stationary demand distribution. We present a new, robust, and effective machine learning algorithm for newsvendor problems with demand shocks but without any demand distribution information. The algorithm needs only an approximate estimate of the lower and upper bounds of demand range; no other knowledge such as demand mean, variance, or distribution type is necessary. We establish the theoretical bounds that determine this machine learning algorithm's performance in handling demand shocks. Computational experiments show that this algorithm outperforms the traditional approaches in a variety of situations including large and frequent shocks of the demand mean. The method can also be used as a meta-algorithm by incorporating other traditional approaches as experts. Working together, the original algorithm and the extended meta-algorithm can help manufacturers and retailers better adapt their production and inventory control decisions in dynamic environments where demand information is limited and demand shocks are frequent [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a dual channel supply chain in which a manufacturer sells a single product to end-users through both a traditional retail channel and a manufacturer-owned direct online channel. We adopt a commonly used linear demand substitution model in which the mean demand in each channel is a function of the prices in each channel. We model each channel as a newsvendor problem, with price and order quantity as decision variables. In addition, the manufacturer must choose the wholesale price to charge to the independent retailer. We analyze the optimal decisions for each channel and prove the existence of a unique equilibrium for the system. We compare this equilibrium solution to the solution for an integrated system, in which the manufacturer owns both the online store and the retailer. To enable supply chain coordination, we propose two contract schemes: a modified revenue-sharing contract and gain/loss sharing contract. We show that, in cases where the retail channel has a larger market than the online channel, such contracts enable the manufacturer to maintain price discrimination, selling the products in different channels at different prices. Finally, we perform a comprehensive numerical study to consider the impact of the model parameters on the equilibrium and to demonstrate the performance of the proposed coordination contracts. We conclude that coordination is most critical for products which are highly price sensitive and for systems in which the online and traditional retail channels are not viewed as close substitutes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We study a firm’s joint decisions on product prices, delivery lead times, and capacity investments of the production facility. We assume customers are strategic and heterogeneous in their sensitivity to waiting. The firm can offer a single service to all customers or two services with different delivery lead times and prices. We investigate a firm’s optimal decisions when the firm is a monopolist or under a duopoly competition. We find that a monopoly firm’s optimal capacity level decreases in service level. For a monopoly firm providing differentiated services, we find that the optimal facility utilization level does not depend on unit capacity cost. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a monopoly firm always gets more profits by providing differentiated services than a single service. For duopoly competition, we show the existence of a Nash equilibrium. Finally, we illustrate that a firm offering shorter lead time quotation may earn less profit than one offering longer lead time quotation when two firms compete in an industry with discrete lead times. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Online marketplaces, such as those operated by Amazon, have seen rapid growth in recent years. These marketplaces serve as an intermediary, matching buyers with sellers, whereas control of the good is left to the seller. In some cases, e.g., the Amazon marketplace system, the firm that owns and manages the marketplace system will also sell competing products through the marketplace system. This creates a new form of channel conflict, which is a focus of this article. We consider a setting in which a marketplace firm operates an online marketplace through which retailers can sell their products directly to consumers. We consider a single retailer, who currently sells its product only through its own website, but who may choose to contract with Amazon to sell its product through the marketplace system. Selling the product through the marketplace expands the available market for the retailer, but comes at some expense, e.g., a fixed participation fee or a revenue sharing requirement. Thus, a key question for the retailer is whether she should choose to sell through the marketplace system, and if so, at what price. We analyze the optimal decisions for both the retailer and the marketplace firm and characterize the system equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms in service and make-to-order manufacturing industries often quote lead times and prices to customers. We define uniform quotation mode (UQM) as the strategy where a firm offers a single lead time and price quotation, and differentiated quotation mode (DQM) is where a firm offers a menu of lead times and prices for customers to choose from. Both modes are followed in practice. Firms should determine which is more profitable. We classify customers into two groups: lead time sensitive (LS) and price sensitive (PS). LS customers value lead time reduction more than PS customers. We develop mathematical models of both quotation modes and analyze them to determine the most profitable mode under specified situations as well as the best lead time and price quotations within each mode. We find that DQM is dominated by UQM whenever PS customers have positive utilities from UQM or LS customers have positive utilities from DQM. Otherwise, which quotation mode is better depends on multiple factors, such as customer characteristics (including lead time reduction valuation and product valuation of a customer, and the proportion of LS customers) and production characteristics (including the desired service level and service or production cost). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retailers often face a newsvendor problem. Advance selling helps retailers to reduce demand uncertainty. Consumers, however, may prefer not to purchase in advance unless given a discount because they are uncertain about their valuation for the product in advance. It is then unclear whether or when advance selling to pass some uncertainty risk to consumers is optimal for the retailer. This paper examines the advance selling price and inventory decisions in a two-period setting, where the first period is the advance selling period and the second is the selling (and consumption) period. We find that an advance selling strategy is not always optimal, but is contingent on parameters of the market (e.g., market potential and uncertainty) and the consumers (e.g., valuation, risk aversion, and heterogeneity). For example, we find that retailers should sell in advance if the consumers' expected valuation exceeds consumers' expected surplus when not buying early by a certain threshold. This threshold increases with the degree of risk aversion but decreases with stock out risk. If the degree of risk aversion varies across consumers, then a retailer should sell in advance if the probability for a consumer to spot buy is less than a critical fractile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advance selling through pre-orders is a strategy to transfer inventory risk from a retailer to consumers. A newsvendor retailer can have three strategies to choose from: no advance selling allowed (NAS), moderate advance selling with a moderate discount for pre-orders (MAS), and deep advance selling with a deep discount for pre-orders (DAS). This research studies how a retailer could design an advance selling strategy to maximize her own profits. We find some interesting results. For example, there exist two thresholds for the selling season profit margin and two thresholds for consumer's expected valuation. For products with higher profit margin than the high threshold on profit margin, a retailer should always use DAS. For products with medium profit margin within the two thresholds, a retailer should adopt MAS if consumer's expected valuation is lower than the high threshold and use DAS otherwise. For products with lower profit margin than the low threshold, a retailer should use NAS, DAS, or MAS, respectively, if consumer's expected valuation is lower than the low threshold, higher than the high threshold, or between the two thresholds, respectively. Through sensitivity analyses, we also show the effects of multiple consumer characteristics on a retailer's optimal advance selling strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structurally symmetric mammalian brain hemispheres are interconnected by commissural axons across the midline. However, the functions of interhemispheric connectivity remain largely unknown. We found that in mice, transection of the anterior commissure (AC), which connects the rostroventral forebrain, impaired avoidant behaviors. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) in the mouse projects to the contralateral nucleus accumbens (NAc) through the AC, independent of its ipsilateral projections. Aversive stimuli activated contralateral BLA-NAc projections. Positive stimuli, however, activated ipsilateral projections. Selective activation of contralateral BLA-NAc projections activated D2-positive medium spiny neurons (D2-MSNs), reduced NAc dopamine levels, and caused aversion, whereas selective activation of ipsilateral BLA-NAc projections activated D1-MSNs, increased NAc dopamine levels, and induced reward. The contralateral BLA-AC-NAc pathway is crucial for encoding negative valence, demonstrating distinct functions of intra- and interhemispheric circuits in brain physiology.