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This paper examines the ramification of the platform's dual role on its featuring strategy, sellers' pricing strategies, and consumer welfare. A digital platform operates the marketplace that connects third-party merchants to consumers and simultaneously participates in its marketplace by selling its own product directly to consumers. This dual role raises the concern that the platform may be self-preferencing, leading to unfair competition and harming both merchants and consumers. We develop a game-theoretical model to investigate the implication of dual role on the platform's product featuring strategy, the seller's pricing strategy, and the consumer's welfare. We show that the platform presents an "intermediary bias" such that it may not feature the best possible product to consumers, regardless of whether the platform is under dual role or sole marketplace mode. Surprisingly, dual role, in some scenarios, may mitigate the intermediary bias and intensify price competition in its marketplace. Consequently, prohibiting the platform from selling directly to consumers may not always be welfare-improving to consumers. Furthermore, banning the platform's perfect product imitation can harm consumers when dual role is still allowed. History: Anthony Dukes served as the senior editor for this article. Funding: This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 72202160, 72342026, and 71902142] and the Pujiang Scholar [Grant 22PJC115]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2022.0338. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various indoles and carbazoles were synthesized from o‐alkenyl anilines and o‐aryl anilines by the β‐C(sp2)−H bond amination cyclization without any oxidants or hydrogen acceptors. Likewise, employing o‐alkyl anilines as substrates, indole products are also obtained by the β‐C(sp3)−H bond amination cyclization, and dehydrogenation. In this cross‐dehydrogenative coupling, many different functional groups are tolerated, and hydrogen gas is the only by‐product, thereby providing an intrinsically waste‐free approach for the synthesis of indoles and carbazoles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial rabbits optimization (ARO) is a metaheuristic algorithm based on the survival strategy of rabbits proposed in 2022. ARO has favorable optimization performance, but it still has some shortcomings, such as weak exploitation capacity, easy to fall into local optima, and serious decline of population diversity at the later stage. In order to solve these problems, we propose an improved multi-strategy artificial rabbits optimization, called IMARO, based on ARO algorithm. In this paper, a roulette fitness distance balanced hiding strategy is proposed so that rabbits can find better locations to hide more reasonably. Meanwhile, in order to improve the deficiency of ARO which is easy to fall into local optimum, an improved non-monopoly search strategy based on Gaussian and Cauchy operators is designed to improve the ability of the algorithm to obtain the global optimal solution. Finally, a covariance restart strategy is designed to improve population diversity when the exploitation is stagnant and to improve the convergence accuracy and convergence speed of ARO. The performance of IMARO is verified by comparing original ARO algorithm with six basic algorithms and seven improved algorithms. The results of CEC2014, CEC2017, CEC2022 show that IMARO has a good exploitation and exploration ability and can effectively get rid of local optimum. Moreover, IMARO produces optimal results on six real-world engineering problems, further demonstrating its efficiency in solving real-world optimization challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid progresses concerning wearable electronics call for stretchable batteries. Owing to the merits of high energy density and wide operating voltage range, organic electrolyte‐based lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) take a large proportion in the powering markets. Due to the high sensitivity to moisture and oxygen, it is difficult to obtain long‐term reliable stretchable organic electrolyte‐based LIBs when they are directly exposed to the air. Benefiting from the outstanding gas impermeability of liquid metal (LM) and relatively good barrier properties for reactive acid gas molecules by polyisobutylene (PIB), an LM‐PIB seal is demonstrated for organic electrolyte‐based LIBs. In the seal, LM can prevent the inward permeation of oxygen and water vapor, and PIB can block the outward permeation of hydrolysis acid generated from the side reactions during the operation of the organic electrolyte‐based LIBs, which helps prevent the detrimental interaction between the hydrolysis acid and LM. A specific capacity of over 120 mAh g−1 is achieved and the battery shows consistent electrochemical performances under multiple deformations. This study offers a different design approach for long‐term operation of stretchable organic electrolyte‐based LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crayfish optimization algorithm (COA), proposed in 2023, is a metaheuristic optimization algorithm that is based on crayfish's summer escape behavior, competitive behavior, and foraging behavior. COA has a good optimization performance, but it still suffers from the problems of slow convergence speed and sensitivity to the local optimum. To solve these problems, an improved multi-strategy crayfish optimization algorithm for solving numerical optimization problems, called IMCOA, is proposed to address the shortcomings of the original crayfish optimization algorithm for each behavioral strategy. Aiming at the imbalance between local exploitation and global exploration in the summer heat avoidance and competition phases, this paper proposes a cave candidacy strategy and a fitness–distance balanced competition strategy, respectively, so that these two behaviors can better coordinate the global and local optimization capabilities and escape from falling into the local optimum prematurely. The directly foraging formula is modified during the foraging phase. The food covariance learning strategy is utilized to enhance the population diversity and improve the convergence accuracy and convergence speed. Finally, the introduction of an optimal non-monopoly search strategy to perturb the optimal solution for updates improves the algorithm's ability to obtain a global best solution. We evaluated the effectiveness of IMCOA using the CEC2017 and CEC2022 test suites and compared it with eight algorithms. Experiments were conducted using different dimensions of CEC2017 and CEC2022 by performing numerical analyses, convergence analyses, stability analyses, Wilcoxon rank–sum tests and Friedman tests. Experiments on the CEC2017 and CEC2022 test suites show that IMCOA can strike a good balance between exploration and exploitation and outperforms the traditional COA and other optimization algorithms in terms of its convergence speed, optimization accuracy, and ability to avoid premature convergence. Statistical analysis shows that there is a significant difference between the performance of the IMCOA algorithm and other algorithms. Additionally, three engineering design optimization problems confirm the practicality of IMCOA and its potential to solve real-world problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online retail search traffic is often concentrated at a "prominent" retailer for a product. The authors unpack the ramifications of this pattern on pricing, profit, and consumer welfare in an intrabrand setting. Prominence denotes a larger number of heterogenous-search-cost consumers starting their search at the prominent retailer than at any other retailer. These analyses show that search traffic concentration can intensify intrabrand competition, lower average prices of all retailers, and improve consumer welfare. Interestingly, the prominent retailer's incremental traffic advantage can increase or reduce its own profit; the authors denote these as the "blessing" and "curse" of prominence, respectively. The authors extend their analysis to a setting where consumers consider searching only among those retailers they are individually aware of; the prominent retailer is included in all these individual awareness sets. The effects on market average prices and welfare carry over, but only below a critical threshold level of the prominent retailer's first-search traffic advantage. Above this threshold, market average prices rise and welfare decreases, making this the region where search concentration warrants scrutiny from policy makers. The authors close with policy remedies and managerial implications of search concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Films with nanoengineered surfaces have been extensively utilized in a variety of energy-related applications such as water desalination, thermal management and solar steam generation. To generate high-quality films, various generation methods including chemical vapor deposition (CVD), electrodeposition and microlithography have been studied. Compared to these methods, however, bubble-induced self-assembly (BISA) has been developed as an alternative strategy due to the advantages of being simple and cost-effective, and has generated considerable research efforts. In this paper, we review the recent advances in the development of films with nanoengineered surfaces via the BISA of nanomaterials. The mechanism and regulation of the BISA to generate high-performance films with the desired surface characteristics are discussed in detail. We also highlight the application of the BISA strategy for use in enhanced phase-change heat transfer. In addition, other applications of the BISA strategy are described, which range from effective thermal management of electronics and concentrated photovoltaics, to advanced energy storage and conversion. Finally, we discuss the current challenges and potential research directions in the field. It is expected that this review will provide a comprehensive understanding of the design, generation, applications and perspectives of films with nanoengineered surfaces generated by the BISA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research assessing the changing epidemiology of infectious diseases in China after the implementation of new healthcare reform in 2009 was scarce. We aimed to get the latest trends and disparities of national notifiable infectious diseases by age, sex, province, and season in China from 2010 to 2019. The number of incident cases and deaths, incidence rate, and mortality of 44 national notifiable infectious diseases by sex, age groups, and provincial regions from 2010 to 2019 were extracted from the China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention and official reports and divided into six kinds of infectious diseases by transmission routes and three classes (A–C) in this descriptive study. Estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs) were calculated to quantify the temporal trends of incidence and mortality rate. We calculated the concentration index to measure economic‐related inequality. Segmented interrupted time‐series analysis was used to estimate the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the epidemic of notifiable infectious diseases. The trend of incidence rate on six kinds of infectious diseases by transmission routes was stable, while only mortality of sexual, blood‐borne, and mother‐to‐child‐borne infectious diseases increased from 0.6466 per 100 000 population in 2010 to 1.5499 per 100 000 population in 2019 by 8.76% per year (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.88–10.68). There was a decreasing trend of incidence rate on Class‐A infectious diseases (EAPC = −16.30%; 95% CI: −27.93 to −2.79) and Class‐B infectious diseases (EAPC = −1.05%; 95% CI: −1.56 to −0.54), while an increasing trend on Class‐C infectious diseases (EAPC = 6.22%; 95% CI: 2.13–10.48). For mortality, there was a decreasing trend on Class‐C infectious diseases (EAPC = −14.76%; 95% CI: −23.46 to −5.07), and an increasing trend on Class‐B infectious diseases (EAPC = 4.56%; 95% CI: 2.44–6.72). In 2019, the infectious diseases with the highest incidence rate and mortality were respiratory diseases (340.95 per 100 000 population), and sexual, blood‐borne, and mother‐to‐child‐borne infectious diseases (1.5459 per 100 000 population), respectively. The greatest increasing trend of incidence rate was observed in seasonal influenza, from 4.83 per 100 000 population in 2010 to 253.36 per 100 000 population in 2019 by 45.16% per year (95% CI: 29.81–62.33), especially among females and children aged 0–4 years old. The top disease with the highest mortality was still AIDs, which had the highest average yearly mortality in 24 provinces from 2010 to 2019, and its incidence rate (EAPC = 14.99%; 95% CI: 8.75–21.59) and mortality (EAPC = 9.65; 95%CI: 7.71–11.63) both increased from 2010 to 2019, especially among people aged 44–59 years old and 60 or older. Male incidence rate and mortality were higher than females each year from 2010 to 2018 on 29 and 10 infectious diseases, respectively. Additionally, sex differences in the incidence and mortality of AIDS were becoming larger. The curve lay above the equality line, with the negative value of the concentration index, which indicated that economic‐related health disparities exist in the distribution of incidence rate and mortality of respiratory diseases (incidence rate: the concentration index = −0.063, p < 0.0001; mortality: the concentration index = −0.131, p < 0.001), sexual, blood‐borne, and mother‐to‐child‐borne infectious diseases (incidence rate: the concentration index = −0.039, p = 0.0192; mortality: the concentration index = −0.207, p < 0.0001), and the inequality disadvantageous to the poor (pro‐rich). Respiratory diseases (Dec–Jan), intestinal diseases (May–Jul), zoonotic infectious diseases (Mar–Jul), and vector‐borne infectious diseases (Sep–Oct) had distinct seasonal epidemic patterns. In addition, segmented interrupted time‐series analyses showed that, after adjusting for potential seasonality, autocorrelation, GDP per capita, number of primary medical institutions, and other factors, there was no significant impact of COVID‐19 epidemic on the monthly incidence rate of six kinds of infectious diseases by transmission routes from 2018 to 2020 (all p > 0.05). The incidence rates of six kinds of infectious diseases were stable in the past decade, and incidence rates of Class‐A and Class‐B infectious diseases were decreasing because of comprehensive prevention and control measures and a strengthened health system after the implementation of the new healthcare reform in China since 2009. However, age, gender, regional, and economic disparities were still observed. Concerted efforts are needed to reduce the impact of seasonal influenza (especially among children aged 0–4 years old) and the mortality of AIDs (especially among people aged 44–59 years old and 60 or older). More attention should be paid to the disparities in the burden of infectious diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]