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In a closed-loop supply chain, the reuse of spare parts from returned systems is a recovery process referred to as spare parts harvesting. The unpredictability of the parts supply capacity from returned systems is a challenge in healthcare industry as product returns depend on several factors and regulatory and legal requirements must be respected. The focus of this paper is to provide a forecasting method of harvested parts supply capacity in healthcare industry that combines statistical methods with field information and business knowledge to provide an informed forecast. We propose a dynamic forecasting process that gets updated monthly employing TSB-Croston, 12-month moving average, ARIMA, ARIMA with seasonality, and a new business knowledge based model. A prediction method of the inventory state changes is introduced. The forecasters judgment is transformed into validation rules for an automatic forecast adjustment. This method is evaluated on more than 1400 time series with intermittent behaviour representing General Electric Healthcare spare parts harvesting history. We evaluate the performance of our method compared to each tested model using a modified MAPE, MAE, MSE, and RMSE. By means of the designed method, the forecast performance is improved compared to all tested models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers frequently receive refunds from prior purchases. In this research, we examine if money refunded from previous purchases is more likely to be spent than money that does not go through a refund process. Across nine pre-registered studies, we test how consumers' willingness to spend depends on the transaction history of their money. We find that, when people receive a refund and do not need to replace the originally purchased item, they are more likely to spend the refunded money on a discretionary purchase than they are to spend non-refunded money that is otherwise identical. We suggest that this pattern arises because refunded money is earmarked as "spending money" at the time of the initial purchase and then retains that earmark even after the refund is issued. When refunds arrive, therefore, they seem free from obligations and easy to spend. This research documents the psychology of purchase refunds, a topic largely unaddressed in the mental accounting literature to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a randomized field experiment, this study compares the economic effects of two categories of nudges—self-assurance- and pressure-based interventions—on consumers' purchase and return behaviors. In contrast to pressure-oriented nudges, such as quantity scarcity, time scarcity, and social persuasion, self-assurance nudges are intended to facilitate the validation of product choice and style/size characteristics as well as the self-assurance-grounded justification of the purchase. The findings reveal that self-assurance nudges designed to help consumers make better choices have both short-term (high sales) and long-term (few product returns) benefits. Although pressure-driven nudges offer slightly higher short-term benefits (high sales), they eventually engender unfavorable long-term outcomes (high product returns) for consumers and online retailers. Finally, using return-adjusted net sales as performance measures, the authors find that self-assurance-based nudges are as effective in stimulating purchase as those that capitalize on scarcity and social pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to enlarge the scope of existing EOQ-type models by incorporating uncertain product returns that may include time or quantity restrictions. In this inventory control problem, the item's demand is deterministic and occurs at a known constant rate over time. Product returns arrive according to a Poisson process. The amount returned to the seller at each return epoch is a random or fixed fraction of the accumulated number of units (net of previous returns) that have been demanded so far within a stock cycle. The ordering policy is a continuous review policy that orders a fixed quantity every time an order is placed. The replenishment lead time is instantaneous, and shortages are not allowed. The objective is to find optimal order quantities by minimising the long-run average total costs per unit time. Costs include a fixed plus proportional cost per order, and a holding cost per unit held in inventory per unit time. A level-crossing approach is used to derive a closed-form expression for the expected ordering and inventory holding costs as a function of the order size and other relevant parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the impact of return decisions on the bullwhip effect in the online closed-loop supply chain. We investigate the optimal return modes when the inspection system is undertaken by the logistics centre or the remanufacturer. Then, we optimise the online retailers' return decisions of minimising the inventory cost and bullwhip effect under different supply chain circumstances. Distinctive from previous conclusion that the inspection operation is usually undertaken by the remanufacturer to sort the returned products, the analysis results reveal that the optimal decision of mitigating the bullwhip effect in most cases is to set the inspection system on logistics centre. Besides, consumers' return and exchange behaviours in e-commerce have different impacts on the supply chain efficiency. The product return can not necessarily mitigate the information distortion in online closed-loop supply chain. The research provides insights for managers to strategise about return policies and resource allocation in different e-commerce contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to help online grocery retailers determine the optimal return and refund policies for perishable grocery items. Three refund policies and two return requirements are modelled: no-refund, full-refund and partial-refund, with or without product return. We first derive the optimal refund policy under two scenarios, where either product return is or is not required for refund. We further analyse how market conditions impact the optimal policies. Lastly, we investigate when product return should be required for refund. Our results show that a more generous refund policy should be offered if the product has a higher profit margin, if an unsatisfactory product has a large negative impact on consumer utility, and if consumers have high return costs when product return is required for refund. Our results also show that it is optimal not to require the unwanted product to be returned when consumer's return cost and product return rate are above certain threshold values. This paper fills the gap in the literature on return and refund policies in an online grocery setting. The findings of this paper provide explicit guidance to online grocery businesses on how to optimally determine the return and refund policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology is commonly used in many industries. One current application is that providing supply chain transparency, sellers can disclose product information to consumers for authentication and certification. To examine the supply chain blockchain based transparency‐level strategy and its interact with different refund policies, in a two‐echelon supply chain, we consider a supplier decides on the transparency level and wholesale price, and a retailer decides on retail price and provides full refund (policy F), or partial refund (policy P), or no refund (policy N) policy to consumers. We find the refund policy choice and the transparency‐level strategy have a mutual influence. A lenient refund policy (a higher refund) can generate more demand, which makes the supplier to provide a high transparency level, whereas a high consumer's transparency awareness also promotes the retailer to choose a more lenient refund policy. We find Pareto improvement exists under a cost‐sharing strategy, and the retailer is willing to share part of the adoption cost only when the efficiency of improving the transparency level is moderate. Otherwise, the retailer adopts blockchain technology only when there is no cost sharing. Further, different shipping cost bearers can change the sensitivity of refund policy choice, and the supplier prefers to provide a high transparency level when the retailer covers the shipping cost. When the retailer becomes more socially responsible, the supplier is more willing to provide a higher transparency level, and the retailer is more willing to provide a partial refund policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new mixed‐integer linear programming (MILP) model to consider a multiproduct, multiperiod capacitated disassembly scheduling model with parts commonality and partial disassembly. The major contribution of this research is to probe the possibility of partial disassembly and separation of parts until the desired part is obtained. When disassembly is partial, parts that are not in demand will not disassemble, saving time and costs. In addition, another contribution introduced in this paper is the consideration of relationships between parts. By incorporating these relationships into the disassembly scheduling problem, our proposed model offers a more comprehensive and efficient solution. The objective is to provide the best plan for selecting partial disassembly modes and scheduling disassembly due to capacity constraints to meet the demand for leaf parts over the planning time horizon and minimize setup, holding, operating, and supply costs. The proposed model is solved using the CPLEX solver, and numerical experiments using selected literature data for problem sizes and sensitivity analyses of key model parameters are carried out to demonstrate the proposed model's consistency and robustness. In addition, significant managerial insights have been proposed based on sensitivity analysis to determine the applicability of the proposed model. Key insights reveal that increasing period capacity reduces total costs but requires careful balancing with capacity‐building expenses. Additionally, aligning part demand with the return product structure can significantly cut costs, and managing inventory through the procurement or disposal of less demanded parts can optimize operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long tradition of research on cooperation includes a well-established finding that individuals respond to the degree of conflict between self-and collective interests (that is, the relative benefits from cooperation) in providing public goods. Existing empirical evidence builds upon settings where participants make multiple decisions or strategically consider alternative scenarios. Here, we consider a decision setting where participants face a one-time (single-decision) setting. One-time cooperative encounters often occur in volunteering or donating to immediate needs for crisis relief. For these distinct and highly relevant settings, we report a lack of responsiveness to increases in cooperation benefits, thereby highlighting limits to our understanding of the determinants of one-time cooperation encounters. Across two studies, n = 2,232 individuals participate in treatments where we vary across participants the relative benefit from contributing to a public good (that is, the marginal per capita return, the MPCR). We examine decisions from alternative participant pools (UK general population vs. students), implementations varying the physical distance between participants (online vs. in the laboratory), and more complex decision settings considering group-to-group interactions including not only providers but also donors to public goods. Throughout, neither average contribution levels, nor the distribution of contributions are significantly affected by the increases in cooperation benefits. The mechanism behind these results can be explained by the close correlation between expectations of other's cooperation and own cooperation, and the fact that these expectations do not increase with higher benefits from cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional portfolio construction primarily revolves around a bi-objective approach, focusing on minimizing portfolio variance while maximizing expected returns. However, this approach leaves out other objectives that could interest decision makers. In this work, we incorporate an extra objective, namely the environmental, social, and governance index (ESG), as a secondary objective. This addition empowers investors to customize their portfolios by defining explicit trade-off thresholds between expected returns and risk, considering the ESG index. To achieve this goal, we make use of external archiving techniques and evolutionary algorithms. In particular, we first find approximate solutions to the bi-objective problem; then, we look for efficient solutions for ESG. We tested our approach with data on the Dow Jones, S&P500, and Nasdaq100 from Yahoo Finance. The results show that the proposed methodology can identify portfolios with good returns and risks considering ESG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text discusses the Šurpu ritual, an ancient Mesopotamian ritual used to appease divine displeasure. It explores the different versions of the ritual and the numbering system used for its tablets. The author argues that a Tablet of incantations has been omitted from modern publications, and its inclusion provides a clearer understanding of the ceremony. The text also discusses the missing Tablet αVII/βVIII and attempts to reconstruct its contents. Overall, the text provides valuable insights into the rituals and beliefs of ancient Mesopotamian culture. [Extracted from the article]

Antenna operates at single frequency can be wielding for any one application. If the antenna has to be wield for multiple operations the number of antennas will increase, which in turn increases system size. The proposed printed antenna with novel spiral shaped slot having circular dumble shaped defective structure results in multiple bands can overcome the stated limitation. Printed patch antenna is designed and simulated using High Frequency Structure Simulator software using Glass epoxy substrate. The proposed antenna has a dimensions of 3.34 × 2.47 × 0.16 cm with low cost substrate shows five different working frequencies with good return loss having impedance bandwidth of 7.93% with highest gain of 9.92 dB and virtual size reduction of 28.33%. The proposed antenna is resonating between 4.36 and 15.89 GHz which covers L, C, Ku and K band application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brand retailers are increasingly offering product personalization to accommodate the requests of individual customers. While prior research has examined product personalization from a customer's or a manufacturer's perspective, this study focuses on product personalization from a brand retailer's perspective. Under product personalization, brand retailers that outsource production to upstream suppliers face two significant challenges: product returns from downstream customers, and personalization costs charged by upstream suppliers. Employing an analysis of transaction data from an online women's wedding dress firm, this study finds that as product requests increase (i.e., more product features must be modified), personalization costs increase, but the likelihood of product returns decreases. Additionally, as time requests increase (i.e., delivery is more urgent), the likelihood of product returns increases. Furthermore, relationship‐specific process control exacerbates (i) the effect of product requests on personalization costs, and (ii) the effect of time requests on the likelihood of product returns. Finally, relationship‐specific outcome control and transaction‐specific control alleviate the impact of time requests on the likelihood of product returns while exacerbating the effect of product requests on personalization costs. The findings suggest that retailers can realize greater benefits from product personalization by selecting control mechanisms tailored to personalization requests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online portfolio selection is a decision-making problem of how to dynamically adjust asset positions based on historical price sequences. The existing works on online portfolio strategy are based on integrating static experts whose advice does not change with market states, which is inconsistent with the advice from dynamic experts in reality. In this paper, we propose a new online portfolio strategy by using side information states to characterize market states, getting advice from dynamic experts who dynamically adjust the strategy based on side information states and integrating their advice. To do so, we first regard all the state constant rebalanced portfolio strategies, which make portfolios dynamically according to side information states, as expert advice. Second, we apply the exponentially weighted average (EWA) algorithm to integrate the advice from the experts and propose a new strategy. Then, we prove that the strategy has the same asymptotic average logarithmic return rate as the best state constant rebalanced portfolio (BSCRP) strategy, i.e., it is universal. Finally, we conduct numerical experiments by using actual financial data from Chinese and American markets. The results indicate that our proposed strategy has good competitive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers often receive a full or partial refund for product returns or service cancellations. Much of the existing literature studies cash refunds, where consumers get the money back minus a fee upon a product return or service cancellation. However, not all refunds are issued in cash. Sometimes consumers receive credit that can be used for future purchases, oftentimes with an expiration term after which the credit is forfeited. We study the optimal design of credit refund policies. Different from models that consider cash refunds, we explicitly model repeated interactions between the seller and consumers over time. We assume that consumers' valuation for the product/service varies over time and that there is an exogenous probability for product returns. Several interesting results emerge. First, a credit refund policy facilitates intraconsumer price discrimination for a single type of consumers with stochastic valuation. Second, an optimal policy often involves an intermediate credit expiration term, under which a consumer with a high product valuation always makes a purchase, whereas a consumer with a low product valuation may be induced to make a purchase as the credit approaches expiration, leading to a demand induction effect. Finally, a credit refund policy can be more profitable than a cash refund policy and can lead to a win-win outcome for both the firm and consumers under certain conditions. We also consider several extensions to check the robustness of our findings. This paper was accepted by Jeannette Song, operations management. Funding: Y. Liu was substantially supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. PolyU15502420). Y. Liu was also supported by a grant from NSFC [72293564/72293560]. Supplemental Material: The data and online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2020.03042. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A low‐loss miniaturized bandpass filter is presented using 3D glass‐based RDL packaging technology. A new topology consisting of one modified Pi‐section and one modified T‐section is introduced to generate three transmission zeros which can achieve the high out‐of‐band rejection. A combination of 2D planar inductors and high‐Q 3D inductors is used to achieve low insertion loss and minimize the filter size. In addition, one grounded resonator at input terminal is introduced to generate an extra transmission zero in the low end. The proposed bandpass filter covering 3.3–4.2 GHz is fabricated with a compact size of 1.6 mm × 0.8 mm × 0.25 mm. It exhibits an insertion loss of less than 1.0 dB at a center frequency of 3.75GHz and a return loss of better than 14 dB. The proposed design has a 3 dB fractional bandwidth of 37.6%. Its out‐of‐band rejection is better than 20 dB at the low frequency band from DC to 2.0 GHz and better than 19 dB at the high frequency band from 5.0 to 9.0 GHz. The simulated and measured results of the proposed BPF are in reasonably good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Connectivity Augmentation Problem (CAP) together with a well-known special case thereof known as the Tree Augmentation Problem (TAP) are among the most basic Network Design problems. There has been a surge of interest recently to find approximation algorithms with guarantees below 2 for both TAP and CAP, culminating in the currently best approximation factor for both problems of 1.393 through quite sophisticated techniques. We present a new and arguably simple matching-based method for the well-known special case of leaf-to-leaf instances. Combining our work with prior techniques, we readily obtain a (4 / 3 + ε) -approximation for Leaf-to-Leaf CAP by returning the better of our solution and one of an existing method. Prior to our work, a 4 / 3 -guarantee was only known for Leaf-to-Leaf TAP instances on trees of height 2. Moreover, when combining our technique with a recently introduced stack analysis approach, which is part of the above-mentioned 1.393-approximation, we can further improve the approximation factor to 1.29, obtaining for the first time a factor below 4 3 for a nontrivial class of TAP/CAP instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development and competitive advantage are impacted by strategic choices that maximize resource value and reduce waste. Numerous instances of thriving OEM remanufacturing can be observed, predominantly in the business‐to‐business domain. The significance of Closed‐Loop Supply Chain (CLSC) in generating value and managing the recovery process is widely acknowledged within the supply chain industry. Manufacturing companies now have to come up with green supply chain and process design strategies in response to recent changes in environmental regulations. This study designates the specific features of circular closed‐loop supply‐chain design considering end‐of‐life products. Uncertainty in various aspects, such as acquisition, processing, and market stages, is impeding the progress of circular economies and also sustainable development in closed‐loop supply chains (CLSCs). This has led to increased complexity in remanufacturing processes and decreased efficiency. To address this issue, the study proposes a comprehensive, integrative approach for establishing a sustainable CLSC network that adapts to fluctuating demand through a questionnaire analysis. Moreover, the study introduces a multi‐objective optimization model for a dual‐channel supply chain network, aiming to enhance the flow. This model considers both economic and environmental objectives to achieve a sustainable and efficient supply chain system. To determine the ideal circular closed‐loop supply chain (CLSC) network design, the research proposes linear programming model with mixed integer, where recovery can take place in one of three ways: through material recovery, component recovery, or product recovery. Numerous findings from a thorough analysis by data backup that inform CLSC managers of ways to improve product returns in terms of quantity and quality. To address the uncertainty problem, the research also developed the fuzzy credibility constraint technique with a Simulated Annealing algorithm. Using cutting‐edge methods, it is explored and compared how sensitivity analysis results, the impact of altering the problem parameters, and the performance of the suggested model respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We document considerable cross-investor variation in survey expectations about aggregate stock market returns. Although most investors are extrapolators who expect higher returns after a good market performance, some are contrarians who expect lower returns after a good performance. More notably, compared with extrapolators, contrarians have less persistent expectations that are corrected more quickly. We then develop a dynamic equilibrium model accounting for these differences in expectations and find that the equilibrium stock price exhibits short-term momentum and long-term reversal as in the data. Furthermore, we test the key predictions of our model linking the observable differences in extrapolators' and contrarians' expectations to aggregate stock market momentum and future stock performance and find supportive evidence for our model mechanism. This paper was accepted by Lukas Schmid, finance. Supplemental Material: The data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4960. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent events in China have caused investor concerns, with many avoiding to commit new long-term investments. This article examines the viability of illiquid private investment funds in China, which have lock-up periods of 10 years or more, and explores the evolving entrepreneurship landscape and its impact on the PE/VC market, questioning whether investors should continue supporting general partners (GPs) with a history of good returns or shift focus due to current investment concerns. We anticipate that the near-term investment outlook for these sectors may fall short of recent historical performance, influenced by the current concentration of power within the Chinese government and the administration's cautious stance toward the private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The omnichannel strategies buy-online-and-return-in-store (BORS) and buy-online-and-pick-up-in-store (BOPS) have attracted attention from both industry and academia. In practice, major retailers adopt BORS and BOPS both individually and jointly, which motivates us to explore when it is profitable for a retailer to adopt BORS or/and BOPS strategy. We formulate a stylised model that captures (1) consumers' uncertainty about product match, (2) the offline search cost for consumers, and (3) the cross-selling effect of the consumers' store visit. We find that the cross-selling benefit and the offline search cost have a significant impact on the retailer's optimal omnichannel strategy. When the cross-selling benefit is sufficiently low, adopting BORS alone is optimal for the retailer. When the cross-selling benefit is moderate and the offline search cost is high, adopting both strategies has a complementary effect, and it is optimal for the retailer to adopt both omnichannel strategies jointly. However, when the cross-selling benefit is sufficiently high, adopting both strategies could be less profitable to the retailer than adopting the BOPS strategy alone. Moreover, consumer surplus may decrease in this case, suggesting that adopting both omnichannel strategies could result in a lose-lose situation for both the retailer and the consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study identifies barriers all stakeholders face in the returns management process. The pressing issue of online product returns significantly erodes the net profit margins, demanding urgent action. Existing returns management systems are often complex, time-consuming and costly, failing to address this issue effectively. In this regard, persuasive technologies like gamification can effectively influence behaviour and enhance motivation towards reducing return by striking a balance between psychological and behavioural factors. Therefore, the study proposes a framework that combines the theory of planned behaviour and Octalysis to identify intentions to reduce product return rates in the e-commerce business. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative exploratory research design using a multiple case study-based approach with in-depth interviews conducted with 96 varied stakeholders was used to provide insights into the behavioural aspects for reducing return rates in e-commerce. Findings: The results reveal three facets of effective returns management in e-commerce. Customers and delivery partners prioritize return processes, policies and rewards, emphasizing efficiency. Meanwhile, mid- and strategic-level employees are optimistic about return process enhancements. Interdepartmental integration and cross-functional communication are found to be vital, suggesting the need for a gamified framework in returns management. Originality/value: This research enriches the returns management literature on gamification solutions and responds to the need for theoretical anchoring by applying the theory of planned behaviour at the organizational level to improve efficiency and customer centricity in the return process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that the determination of the good-dice-in-bad-neighborhoods (GDBNs) has been regarded as an effective technique to reduce the value of the defect parts per million (DPPM) by identifying and rejecting the suspicious dice even though they are good in testing. Instead of examining eight immediate neighbors in a small-sized $3\times 3$ window or exploiting simple linear regression, a large-sized window can be used to recognize the broad-sighted neighborhoods and accurately infer the suspiciousness level for any given die. In this paper, the artificial neural networks (ANN)-based method can be proposed to solve the GDBN identification. Furthermore, two enhanced techniques can be further presented to improve the inference accuracy of the original ANN-based method by considering the variation of the time-dependent wafer patterns and the wafer-to-wafer relationship between two adjacent wafers. After applying the two enhanced techniques, the business profits can be improved in the new ANN-based method. Various experiments on two datasets clearly reveal the superiority of the proposed ANN-based method over the other existing methods. In addition to the reduction of the DPPM value, the new ANN-based method can achieve the 1.5X–2X better reduction in the cost of the return merchandise authorization (RMA). On the other hand, the experimental results show that the similar result can also be obtained in the other lower-yield products. By using the new ANN-based method, the relationships on bad dice cross wafers can be captured and the highly-accurate inference results can be simultaneously maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sediment connectivity at the catchment scale includes the processes linking sediment sources, sinks and the river outlet. Soil erosion models usually estimate yields without considering riverine processes or human infrastructure that may affect sediment connectivity. Quantifying these processes at a large scale is a determinant of understanding sediment transfers from continental lands to marine ecosystems. This study tries to fill this gap by coupling the soil erosion model WaTEM/SEDEM (WS) with the riverine connectivity tool CASCADE to quantify sediment fluxes in the Rhône watershed. The coupling returned a good fit, with deviations of −51.7%. WS alone predicts the exported fluxes better with a deviation of −34.9%. Nevertheless, this paper shows the importance of considering connectivity and transport capacity to develop a more realistic representation of fine sediment dynamics at a large scale. However, connectivity tools depend on the quality of the models (soil erosion and hydrology) and the geomorphological data on which they depend, which is a limiting factor in large‐scale studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer showrooming has become a common phenomenon in the retail industry, but little is known about its influence on the interplay between an upstream supplier and a downstream retailer in a distribution channel. Our study examines such an influence by considering an upstream supplier who sells a product through a downstream physical retailer based on a wholesale contract. At the same time, based on an agency contract, the supplier sells the product on an online retail platform where a nonneglectable amount of consumer returns occurs due to product misfits. We find that, on the one hand, consumer showrooming enables the supplier to take a greater share of the offline channel profit by exploiting the physical retailer's deterrence of showrooming. On the other hand, consumer showrooming as a mixed-channel shopping method makes the supplier less capable of adjusting the direct online demand according to its marginal cost of handling returns. Such a return-loss-propagation-moderating effect protects the downstream physical retailer from the upstream supplier's strategic pricing that intends to shift sales from offline to direct online when the supplier finds it cost efficient to handle online product returns. Our study also shows that the retailer can replace the wholesale contract with the store-within-a-store model with a rental fee contract to leverage the upstream supplier's incentive to mitigate the adverse effect of showrooming. The findings inform the physical retailer that the more critical issue may not be showrooming itself but aligning with the upstream supplier to promote offline sales in the presence of showrooming. This paper was accepted by Kartik Hosanagar, information systems. Funding: S. Kumar thanks Temple Center for International Business Education and Research for partially supporting this research. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2020.01990. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of the internet has transformed individual shopping behaviors, shifting from traditional shopping patterns or visiting physical stores to shopping through online platforms or e-commerce. This behavioral change has undeniably had a significant impact on the retail industry and consumers at large. With the increasing number of e-commerce users, especially in the C2C (consumer to consumer) sector, market competition is becoming more intense. This study focuses on analyzing certain factors such as website appearance, ease of use, free shipping policy, return policy, POD mode of payment, and security that can influence customer trust and its impact on repurchase intention. Data collection was conducted through the distribution of online questionnaires in the Jabodetabek area to customers who had made online purchases in the last three months, using a purposive sampling method with a total of 228 respondents. The research method analysis used the PLS-SEM method. The results of this study indicate that website appearance, free shipping policy, return policy, and security have a positive and significant effect on trust. Meanwhile, ease of use and POD mode of payment have a positive but not significant effect on trust. Furthermore, trust has a positive and significant impact on repurchase intention. This study plays a role for C2C e-commerce management in increasing consumer trust, especially among the millennial generation, and its impact on repurchase intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the use of metaphors in understanding and describing transformation. Metaphors, such as the caterpillar becoming a butterfly or the phoenix rising from the ashes, help us comprehend and communicate the process of transformation. However, these metaphors also have limitations and may misrepresent certain aspects of transformation. The article discusses various metaphors, including those from living things, myths, and physical objects, and highlights their strengths and weaknesses in capturing the complexity of transformation. The analysis has implications for research, theory, and practice in transformative learning, urging us to question our assumptions and consider the role of external influences and individual agency in the process of transformation. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: This research aims to examine the factors that influence customers' product return intentions and proposes that YouTube product reviews can mitigate customers' desire to return a product. Design/methodology/approach: The proposed theoretical research model and hypothesized relationship were investigated using a quantitative process. This study used 302 data from Indonesian young adult respondents to examine the structural model, which was analyzed using the SmartPLS 3.2 software package. Findings: The results show that YouTube product reviews, product fit uncertainty and customer satisfaction are the key determinants of customers' product return intention. Furthermore, the results show that the credibility of YouTube product reviews has a major impact on customers' familiarity with a product, satisfaction and the likelihood of returning goods to sellers. Practical implications: In the e-commerce industry, increasing the use of YouTube product reviews will help businesses eliminate unnecessary product returns. Sellers are also encouraged to collaborate with YouTube producers to review specific products, which can benefit companies by raising brand awareness and gaining customer feedback. Furthermore, YouTube online product reviews can help consumers avoid having an unpleasant shopping experience that causes emotional reactions and lowers satisfaction. Originality/value: Most research has not considered antecedents in observing the product return phenomenon; this study observes a prerequisite of consumer product returns (i.e. information asymmetry and product familiarity) and investigates the relationships between YouTube product reviews, customer satisfaction and product return intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We present the first application of the mixed-frequency VAR (MF-VAR) method in the market microstructure literature, studying the interaction between stock market returns and foreign investors' trading. MF-VAR allows us to use daily investor trading data together with higher-frequency return series and uncover novel intraday patterns in the feedback trading behavior and the information content of trading. Using data from Korea, we find that foreign investors chase opening-hour returns, and their trading has the ability to forecast subsequent days' late-hour returns. This pattern suggests that foreign investors selectively respond to the information incorporated during opening hours. Over the years, foreign investors' response to intraday returns has become more prompt, and the predictive ability of their trading has disappeared. A specific test made feasible by the MF-VAR method does not support the global private information hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we consider hybrid manufacturing/remanufacturing inventory systems that produce a single product to satisfy demands over a finite planning horizon. In each period, the firm receives random demand and returns of end-of-life products. A serviceable product can be manufactured from ample raw materials or remanufactured from a returned product. The two operations possess random dedicated capacities. The firm's objective is to minimize the expected total discounted cost over the planning horizon. We partially characterize the firm's optimal inventory policy when the two capacities are positively dependent and completely characterize it when only one capacity is random. When there is ample manufacturing capacity, we connect the model with an auxiliary dual-sourcing inventory model and derive a more detailed structure of the optimal policy. Finally, our numerical study provides actionable insights into the effects of random capacities. Among others, we find that approximating a slightly/moderately variable remanufacturing capacity as its deterministic mean capacity or ignoring the correlation between two random capacities under a multi-period setting incurs a limited cost to the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Exchangeable item repair systems are inventory systems. A nonfunctional item is exchanged for a functional item and returns to the system after being repaired. In our periodic review setting, repair is performed either in-house or outsourced. When repair is in-house, a repaired item is returned to stock regardless of the repair status of the other items in its order. In contrast, with outsourced repair, the entire order must be repaired for it to return to stock. Methods: We develop formulas for the window fill rate (probability for a customer to be served within a given time window) to measure the system's performance and compute it for each repair model. The cost of outsourcing is the difference between the number of spares needed to maintain a target performance level when repair is internal and when it is outsourced. Results and Conclusions: In our numerical example, we show that the window fill rate in both models is S-shaped in the number of spares and show how the graph shifts to the right when customer tolerance decreases and order cycle time increases. Further, we show that the cost of outsourcing is increasing with customer tolerance and with the target performance level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the relationship between returns and risk of Islamic stock under stable economic conditions, crises, and pandemics within the scope of Indonesian and Asian Islamic capital markets. How do economic conditions affect the risks and returns of investors in the Indonesian and Asian Islamic capital markets? Verification of the veracity of the Islamic capital market serves as a more resilient option for alternative investments. This study uses Granger causality to determine exogenous and endogenous variables when building the model. The model that is formed is then analyzed using regression with dummy variables of stable economic conditions, crises, and pandemics. The first research findings on differences in crisis, stable and pandemic times in the Asian stock market show that there is no significant difference in effect between stable times and during a crisis, but there are differences in the effect during stable and pandemic times. The second research finding states that the return on Asian market Shariah stocks has no influence on increasing or reducing the value of risk or value at risk. The third finding explains that Islamic stocks in Indonesia have a greater risk value during pandemics and crises than in stable times, but the effect of pandemic and crisis conditions is not as great as Islamic stocks in Asia as a whole. In order to stabilize markets and reduce risks, regulatory bodies and governments frequently employ a variety of actions during times of crisis. When applied to trading volume, risk, and return patterns, these findings can help determine the appropriate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investing in stocks and shares is a common strategy to pursue potential gains while considering future financial needs, such as retirement and children's education. Effectively managing investment risk requires thoroughly analyzing stock market returns and making informed predictions. Traditional models often utilize normal variance distributions to describe these returns. However, stock market returns often deviate from normality, exhibiting skewness, higher kurtosis, heavier tails, and a more pronounced center. This paper investigates the Laplace distribution and its generalized forms, including asymmetric Laplace, skewed Laplace, and the Kumaraswamy Laplace distribution, for modeling stock market returns. Our analysis involves a comparative study with the widely-used Variance-Gamma distribution, assessing their fit with the weekly returns of the S&P 500 Index and its eleven business sectors, drawing parallel inferences from international stock market indices like IBOVESPA and KOSPI for emerging and developed economies, as well as the 20+ Years Treasury Bond ETFs and individual stocks across varied time horizons. The empirical findings indicate the superior performance of the Kumaraswamy Laplace distribution, which establishes it as a robust alternative for precise return predictions and efficient risk mitigation in investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new model formulation for a multiproduct dynamic order quantity problem with product returns and a reprocessing option. The optimization considers the limited shelf life of sterile medical devices as well as the capacity constraints of reprocessing and sterilization resources. The time-varying demand is known in advance and must be satisfied by purchasing new medical devices or by reprocessing used and expired devices. The objective is to determine a feasible procurement and reprocessing plan that minimizes the incurred costs. The problem is solved in a heuristic manner in two steps. First, we use a Dantzig-Wolfe reformulation of the underlying problem, and a column generation approach is applied to tighten the lower bound. In the next step, the obtained lower bound is transformed into a feasible solution using CPLEX. Our numerical results illustrate the high solution quality of this approach. The comparison with a simulation based on the first-come-first-served principle shows the advantage of integrated planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the flourishing of live streaming e-commerce, many brand manufacturers have sought to increase product sales and profits through live streaming. However, a high return rate, mainly caused by substandard product quality, is a thorny issue for the live e-commerce industry. In this study we develop game-theoretic models to explore the optimal cooperation strategies for a brand manufacturer and an influencer that improve profits and reduce the return rate by considering heterogeneous consumers’ purchase and return behaviour. We also conduct a sensitivity analysis on the proportion of followers and consumers’ sensitivity to product quality. In addition, we extend the models to explore other issues. We find that the cooperation between the influencer and brand manufacturer to improve product quality will lead to a lower return rate, and higher product quality, sales, and profits. Specifically, when the commission rate is relatively high and the percentage of the influencer’s quality investment is relatively low, both the brand manufacturer and influencer will gain more profits. When the influencer endogenously determines the quality of the product, quality cooperation increases the influencer’s profit but decreases the brand manufacturer’s profit. Long-term cooperation increases the influencer’s profit, while the impact on the brand manufacturer’s profit is influenced by the live streaming spillover effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop game‐theoretic models to study the sourcing strategies of the two competing manufacturers who face customer returns due to product design mismatch. The manufacturers have opportunities to reduce the likelihood of customer returns by putting efforts into improving product design. Each manufacturer has the option to outsource product design and production to an upstream supplier or keep product design and production internally. We show that the sourcing decisions of the two manufacturers depend on the level of relative return from design investment (determined by the cost of design efforts, degree of horizontal product differentiation, and expected costs related to returns). We identify the sourcing strategy equilibrium and show that the higher cost of design effort and/or the higher degree of horizontal product differentiation expand, while the higher costs related to returns shrink, the range in which symmetric outsourcing is an equilibrium. Furthermore, as compared to symmetric insourcing, symmetric outsourcing not only softens the price competition but may also increase design effort levels, and thus both manufacturers are better off from outsourcing. However, symmetric outsourcing may hurt both consumer surplus and social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Wafer-level three-dimensional stacked integration technology is demonstrated in this paper, employing three gallium arsenide (GaAs) monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs) and gold (Au) bumps, and specifically designed for high-density and low-profile applications operating at millimeter-wave frequencies. A ground coplanar waveguide to ground coplanar waveguide (GCPW to GCPW) hot via interconnect has been developed to facilitate vertical transitions within a multi-stacked electromagnetic (EM) environment. Electrical connection between the upper and lower layers is achieved through 70 µm-height Au bumps. Compared to 2.5D packaging, this innovative structure exhibits an increased integration capability of more than three times within the same area, with a thickness of 0.451 mm. Ultra-wideband transmission between RF chips is achieved within a compact area of 0.16 square millimeters, enabling extremely short-distance interconnect for system-in-package configurations. Appropriate utilization of ground metal within the package ensures strict electromagnetic field confinement, preventing interference from adjacent circuits. The designed transitions were fabricated and characterized. The measured result has an insertion loss of less than 0.65 dB and return loss of better than 20 dB up to 40 GHz for a back-to-back structure. This integration technology can further enhance integration capability, reduce transmission loss, and improve electromagnetic isolation. The presented approach holds significant potential for applications requiring high-density integration and reliable performance in the millimeter-wave regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to propose and apply a machine learning method to analyze the direction of returns from exchange traded funds using the historical return data of its components, helping to make investment strategy decisions through a trading algorithm. In methodological terms, regression and classification models were applied, using standard data sets from five reference markets, in addition to algorithmic error metrics. In terms of research results, they were analyzed and compared to those of the Naïve forecast and the returns obtained by the buy & hold technique in the same period of time. In terms of risk and return, the models mostly performed better than the control metrics, with emphasis on the linear regression model and the classification models by logistic regression, support vector machine (using the LinearSVC model), Gaussian Naive Bayes and K-Nearest Neighbors, where in certain data sets the returns exceeded by two times and the Sharpe ratio by up to four times those of the buy & hold control model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retailers managing both online and offline channels have to decide whether to adopt the uniform (i.e., charging the same price online and offline) or dual (i.e., charging different prices online and offline) pricing strategy. This decision is made even more challenging as consumers are increasingly multirooming as they may search offline and then purchase online (showrooming) or the other way around (webrooming). In this paper, we develop an analytical model to examine such a decision. The model takes into consideration (1) consumers' uncertainty about digital and nondigital product attributes, (2) consumers' costs of showrooming as well as webrooming, and (3) the prevalence of costly product return. We show that uniform pricing can be optimal for a monopoly retailer even though consumers have different costs for shopping online versus offline and there is no intrinsic disutility against price discrimination by consumers. In addition, when the uniform price is optimal, it can be lower than both the offline and online prices under optimal dual pricing. This is because, compared with dual pricing, uniform pricing eliminates consumers' uncertainty about the offline store's price so that they are more likely to search the nondigital attribute at the offline store and buy the fitted product. Moreover, a relatively higher online price has to be used under dual pricing to encourage consumers to search offline for the purpose of reducing the product return costs. This paper was accepted by Dmitri Kuksov, marketing. Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 71922008, 71972043, 72025102, and 72091211] and the Sci-Tech Innovation Foundation of School of Management at Fudan University [Grant 20210202]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4849. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new compact design of bandpass filter using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) is proposed and analyzed in this paper. It offers good in-band return loss, low insertion loss, wide passband, and high stopband attenuation. The filtering response is achieved by loading a couple of inverted tuning fork-shaped defected ground structures (DGS) on the bottom of the SIW cavity. DGS is utilized to enhance the upper stopband performance. To validate, the filter is fabricated using Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 with 0.508 mm thickness and tested. The filter has a center frequency of 15.44 GHz with 19% fractional bandwidth (FBW). The return loss is more than 20 dB and the insertion loss is about 1.2 dB. It finds its application in Ku band satellite communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retailers are increasingly selling returned products as open-box along with their new product offerings. Whereas some retailers position open-box products side-by-side with their new counterparts in the assortment (i.e., side-by-side strategy), other retailers position them separately in a different part of the retail space/website (i.e., separate strategy). We conduct multimethodology research to investigate the effectiveness of these two visual merchandising strategies. First, using a choice-based conjoint design in a controlled behavioral experiment, we identify how the two strategies affect the perceived value of new products. Next, using proprietary data from a retailer that has implemented both strategies across different stores, we empirically test the impact of each strategy on new product sales and returns under real market conditions. Finally, we extend our empirical analysis to prescribe how retailers can identify the right visual merchandising strategy for a given product profile. Overall, our results reveal a novel trade-off between the two visual merchandising strategies. With respect to retail revenue, the separate strategy outperforms the side-by-side strategy as we find that new product sales are higher with the separate strategy. However, with respect to retail cost, the side-by-side strategy outperforms the separate strategy as we find that new product returns are lower with the side-by-side strategy. Our extended analysis reveals that this tradeoff varies by product profile. Using counterfactual analysis, we further demonstrate that customizing the visual merchandising strategy by product mix could increase profit by 3.2% at the focal retailer. This paper was accepted by Jeannette Song, operations management. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4786. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans coordinate their eye, head, and body movements to gather information from a dynamic environment while maximizing reward and minimizing biomechanical and energetic costs. However, such natural behavior is not possible in traditional experiments employing head/body restraints and artificial, static stimuli. Therefore, it is unclear to what extent mechanisms of fixation selection discovered in lab studies, such as inhibition-of-return (IOR), influence everyday behavior. To address this gap, participants performed nine real-world tasks, including driving, visually searching for an item, and building a Lego set, while wearing a mobile eye tracker (169 recordings; 26.6 h). Surprisingly, in all tasks, participants most often returned to what they just viewed and saccade latencies were shorter preceding return than forward saccades, i.e., consistent with facilitation, rather than inhibition, of return. We hypothesize that conservation of eye and head motor effort ("laziness") contributes. Correspondingly, we observed center biases in fixation position and duration relative to the head's orientation. A model that generates scanpaths by randomly sampling these distributions reproduced all return phenomena we observed, including distinct 3-fixation sequences for forward versus return saccades. After controlling for orbital eccentricity, one task (building a Lego set) showed evidence for IOR. This, along with small discrepancies between model and data, indicates that the brain balances minimization of motor costs with maximization of rewards (e.g., accomplished by IOR and other mechanisms) and that the optimal balance varies according to task demands. Supporting this account, the orbital range of motion used in each task traded off lawfully with fixation duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]