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The widespread use of mobile apps in marketing has resulted in in-app advertising to promote products and services. Research on in-app advertising has focused on several dimensions but not on the modality of ad generation. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and memes as advertisements has paved the way for multiple ways to create them. This study aims to understand the effect of various advertisement generation modalities on an individual’s trust, attitude toward the advertisement, subjective norms, intentions and use of a particular product.

Using the theoretical lens of reasoned action and trust, the authors explored through an experimental study (five treatments-AI-generated ad and meme, human-created ad and meme and user-generated meme, and (n = 300) the consumer’s intention to purchase a fictitious shampoo brand based on in-app advertising. The respondents were exposed to one of the treatments without knowledge of the ad generation modality.

Trust differed significantly across all the experimental conditions. Furthermore, the authors observe that the theory of reasoned action holds for all advertising generation modalities.

The use of AI in advertising is increasing exponentially, and brands are using AI-generated content to engage with their audiences on various platforms. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to attempt to understand the effects of various ad generation modalities on the trust, attitude and behavior of individuals. Furthermore, this study examines both AI and human-created memes and their effects. The authors suggest optimizing the prompt engineering to develop AI-generated images.

Multiple encapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) are used in a wide range of applications, including convective drying, electronic cooling, waste heat recovery and air conditioning. Therefore, it is important to understand the performance of multiple PCMs in channels with flow separation and develop methods to increase their effectiveness. The aim of the study is to analyze the phase transition dynamics of multiple encapsulated PCMs mounted in a U-shaped tube under inclined magnetic field by using ternary nanofluid.

The PCMs used in the upper horizontal channel, vertical channel and lower horizontal channel are denoted by M1, M2 and M3. Magnetic field is uniform and inclined while finite element method is used as the solution technique. Triple encapsulated-PCM system study is carried out taking into account different values of Reynolds number (Re, ranges from 300 to 1,000), Hartmann number (Ha ranges from 0 and 60), magnetic field inclination (between 0 and 90) and solid volume fraction of ternary nanofluid (between 0 and 0.03). The dynamic response of the liquid fraction is estimated for each PCM with varying Re, Ha and t using an artificial neural network.

It is observed that for PCMs M2 and M3, the influence of Re on the phase transition is more effective. For M2 and M3, entire transition time (t-F) lowers by approximately 47% and 47.5% when Re is increased to its maximum value, whereas it only falls by 10% for M1. The dynamic characteristics of the phase transition are impacted by imposing MGF and varying its strength and inclination. When Ha is raised from Ha = 0 to Ha = 50, the t-F for PCM-M2 (PCM-M3) falls (increases) by around 30% (29%). For PCMs M1, M2 and M3, the phase transition process accelerates by around 20%, 30% and 28% when the solid volume fraction is increased to its maximum value.

Outcomes of this research is useful for understanding the phase change behavior of multiple PCMs in separated flow and using various methods such as nano-enhanced magnetic field to improve their effectiveness. Research outputs are beneficial for initial design and optimization of using multiple PCMs in diverse energy system technologies, including solar power, waste heat recovery, air conditioning, thermal management and drying.

Serving the public sector, emergency response organizations operate in uncertain environments. This study aims to understand the impact of effective coordination and collaboration of volunteers and career responders on response time performance considering the complexity of their task environments measured as population density. The operations strategy models designed for manufacturing and services in the private sector provide overarching theoretical insights to explore the role of organizational design characterized by the mix of volunteers and career responders in the public sector emergency services.

This study uses hierarchical regression analysis to substantiate the theoretical model using publicly available data extracted from the US National Fire Incident Reporting System. The data is analyzed using the US National Fire Protection Association’s standard to define fire department organizational types working in differing task environments categorized as rural, suburban and urban, using population density from the US Census Bureau.

This study upholds the framework of operations strategy model for public services and finds that fire department organizational design and task environment significantly influence operational performance measured by incident response time. While increasing the percentage of career firefighters can improve response time for volunteer fire departments, once a threshold is achieved, such an increase does not help to improve incident response time for combination and career fire departments.

This study takes a fresh look at public emergency services using operations strategy models and explores the operational impact of fire department organizational design using the mix of volunteer and career firefighters under varying environmental conditions. While the findings are specific to one public emergency service domain, they open avenues for future research to extend these models to other emergency service types and public services.

With the increasing popularity of online games like Pokémon Go, a new wave of crowdsourcing communities have emerged, allowing gamers to collaborate, communicate and share useful game-related information. This paper aims to examine the factors that influence gamers' crowdsourcing behaviour.

A conceptual framework is developed that combines the DeLone & McLean model, self-determination theory, and different levels of engagement behaviour. The online survey collected 371 responses that were analysed using Covariance Based Structural Equation Modelling (CB-SEM).

The results show that extrinsic and intrinsic motivation positively influenced gamers' crowdsourcing engagement intention. System quality and information quality were also confirmed to be positively associated with gamers' crowdsourcing engagement intention. Furthermore, crowdsourcing engagement intention was found to be positively associated with crowdsourcing content consumption, contribution, and creation.

The findings of this study are useful for the owners of Pokémon Go and other gaming-related crowdsourcing platforms in devising tailored strategies to increase the crowdsourcing engagement of gamers.

This study provides the first empirical evidence of factors motivating online gamers' crowdsourcing intention. This study also presents novel insight into online gamers' crowdsourcing intention by combining diverse theories which offer different perspectives and a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. Contribution to the research on the intention-behaviour gap by modelling three behavioural outcomes (content creation, contribution, and consumption behaviour) of crowdsourcing engagement intention, is another important contribution of this study.

This study explores the feasibility of substituting freshwater with alternative water sources such as potable water (PW), harvested rainwater (HRW), stormwater (SW), borewell water (BW) and seawater (Sea W) in concrete manufacturing. The aim is to evaluate the potential of these alternative sources to support sustainable development, reduce environmental impact and conserve freshwater resources in the construction industry.

The research followed established concrete production standards and evaluated the chemical properties of various water sources. Fresh concrete characteristics, including setting time, workability and mechanical properties (compressive, split tensile and flexural strength), were tested at 7, 28 and 90 days. Durability assessments utilized the Volhard assay for chloride content, RCPT for chloride permeability and a physical sulfate attack test. Additionally, a life cycle assessment (LCA) examined the environmental impacts, while an economic analysis assessed cost implications for each water source.

The results showed only minor differences of 2%–3% in the fresh and mechanical properties of concrete using alternative water sources, with no significant changes in compressive, tensile or flexural strength compared to potable water. The Rapid Chloride Penetration Test (RCPT) and Nord Test techniques showed that all water sources, except seawater, are suitable for concrete mixing, as they enhance concrete durability due to their very low chloride ion concentrations, which minimize the risk of steel corrosion. The sulfate attack, including mass loss and expansion measurements for various water sources, indicates low susceptibility to except seawater. SEM and EDS HRW and SW also showed denser microstructures compared to Potable Water, indicating the absence of voids or cracks and the formation of ettringite needles, while seawater posed challenges due to high chloride content and corrosion risks. The LCA indicated that SW had the lowest environmental impact, while seawater posed substantial challenges. The economic analysis confirmed SW as the most cost-effective option, with all sources meeting production standards except seawater.

This study provides new insights into the sustainable use of non-potable water sources in concrete manufacturing. It demonstrates the viability of using HRW, SW and BW as alternative water sources to potable water, supporting sustainability goals in construction while conserving vital freshwater resources and reducing environmental impact.

The purpose of this study is to improve the mechanical properties, thermal insulation properties and flame retardant properties of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the organic montmorillonite (OMMT)/SiO₂ aerogel/PET composites and fibers were prepared, and the effects of the OMMT/SiO₂ aerogel on the structure, thermal conductivity and flame retardance of the OMMT/SiO₂ aerogel/PET composites and their fibers were systematically investigated.

The OMMT/SiO₂ aerogel/PET composites and fibers were prepared by in-situ polymerization and melt spinning using SiO₂ aerogel as thermal insulation filler and OMMT (DK2) as comodified filler.

The experimental results showed that OMMT improved the crystallization properties of PET. Compared with the crystallinity of SiO₂ aerogel/PET composites (34.8%), SiO₂ aerogel/PET composites and their fibers reached 45.1% and 49.2%, respectively. The breaking strength of the OMMT/SiO₂ aerogel/PET composite fibers were gradually increased with the OMMT content. When the content of OMMT was 0.8 wt.%, the fracture strength of the composite fibers reached 4.40 cN/dtex, which was 54% higher than that of the SiO₂ aerogel/PET fiber. In addition, the thermal insulation properties of the composites and their fibers were improved by addition of fillers, and at the same time reached the flame retardant level. The thermal conductivity of the 0.8 wt.% OMMT/SiO₂ aerogel/PET composites was 101.78 mW/(m·K), which was 49.3% and 58.8% lower than that of the SiO₂ aerogel/PET composites and the pure PET, respectively. The thermal conductivity of the fiber fabrics woven from the 0.8 wt.% OMMT/SiO₂ aerogel/PET composites was 28.18 mW/(m·K), which was 29.0% and 44.6% lower than that of the SiO₂ aerogel/PET composite fiber fabrics and PET fiber fabrics. The flame retardancy of the composites was improved, with an limiting oxygen index value of 29.2% for the 0.8 wt.% OMMT/SiO₂ aerogel/PET composites, which was 4.1% higher compared to the SiO₂ aerogel/PET composites, and achieved the flame retardant level.

The SiO₂ aerogel/PET composites and their fibers have good mechanical properties, flame retardant properties and thermal insulation properties, exhibited good potential for application in the field of thermal insulation, such as warm clothing. Nowadays, as the energy crisis is becoming more and more serious, it is very important to improve the thermal insulation properties of PET to reduce energy losses and mitigate the energy crisis.

In this study, PET based composites and their fibers with excellent mechanical properties, thermal insulation properties and flame retardant property were obtained by using three-dimensional network porous silica aerogel with low density and low thermal conductivity as the thermal insulation functional filler and two-dimensional layered OMMT as the synergetic modified filler.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of CEO social media celebrity status on credit ratings and to determine whether potential threats on the CEO celebrity status negatively moderate the above association.

The authors collected tweets for 874 CEOs from 513 unique S&P 1500 firms. A panel data analysis was conducted on a panel with 4,235 observations from 2009 to 2020. We then tested the hypothesis with the ordinal logit model.

The empirical findings confirmed that CEO social media celebrity status is positively associated with corporate credit rating outcomes. Our path analyses revealed that CEOs with higher social media celebrity status have less incentive to conduct risk-taking behaviors and thus benefit credit ratings. When the rating agencies perceive potential threats to CEO celebrity status, including CEO myopia and CEO overconfidence, the association between CEO social media celebrity status and credit rating is weakened.

This study provides an in-depth understanding of CEO social media perception on credit ratings for firms' managers and capital market participants. Findings can help managers and firms improve their strategies for leveraging social media to release credit constraints. The debt market participants could adopt the CEO social media celebrity status and its concerned threats to setting debt contracts with an adequate price.

This is likely to be the first study that examines the effect of CEO social media celebrity status on credit ratings. The findings of this study also reveal that social media certificated celebrity CEOs tend to be capable of enhancing firm revenue and have lower risk-taking incentives, unlike mass media certificated celebrity CEOs.

Flooding is China’s most frequent and catastrophic natural hazard, causing extensive damage. The aim of this study is to develop a comprehensive assessment of urban flood risk in the Hubei Province of China, focusing on the following three issues: (1) What are the factors that cause floods? (2) To what extent do these factors affect flood risk management? (3) How to build an effective comprehensive assessment system that can be used to reduce flood risk?

This study combines expert opinion and evidence from the extent literature to identify flood risk indicators across four dimensions: disaster risk, susceptibility, exposure and prevention and mitigation. The Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) and the Grey Relational Analysis (RA)-based Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) decision-making approach were applied to calculate the weighting of factors and develop a model of urban flood risk. Then, ArcGIS software visualizes risk levels and spatial distribution in the cities of Hubei Province; uncertainty analysis verified method accuracy.

The results show that there are significant differences in the level of urban flood risk in Hubei Province, with cities such as Tianmen, Qianjiang, Xiantao and Ezhou being at high risk, while cities such as Shiyan, Xiangyang, Shennongjia, Yichang, Wuhan and Huanggang are at lower flood risk.

The innovative method of combining CRITIC-GRA-TOPSIS reduces the presence of subjective bias found in many other flood risk assessment frameworks. Regional data extraction and uncertainty analysis enhance result reliability, supporting long-term decision-making and urban planning. Overall, the methodological approach developed provides an advanced, highly effective and efficient analysis and visualization of flood risk. This study deepens the understanding of flood risk assessment mechanisms and more broadly supports the development of resilient cities.

The study investigates the inter-linkages between geopolitical risk (GPR) and food price (FP).

By employing the bootstrap full- and sub-sample rolling-window Granger causality tests.

The empirical results show that there is a time-varying bidirectional causality between GPR and FP. High GPR leads to a rise in FP, suggesting that geopolitical events usually may disrupt supply and demand conditions in food markets, and even trigger global food crises. However, the negative effect of GPR on FP does not support this view in certain periods. This is mainly because GPR is also related to the global economic situation and oil price, which together have impacts on the food market. These results cannot always be supported by the inter-temporal capital asset pricing model, which states that GPR affects FP in a positive manner. Conversely, there is a positive impact of FP on GPR, indicating that the food market is an effective tool that can reflect global geopolitical environment.

In the context of the Russia–Ukraine conflict, these analyses can assist investors and policymakers to understand the sensitivity of FP to GPR. Also, it will provide significant revelations for governments to attach importance to the role of food price information in predicting geopolitical events, thus contributing to a more stable international environment.

The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of fused filament fabrication (FFF) printing parameters on the surface quality and dimensional accuracy of FFF-fabricated copper green parts using the appropriate filaments. The orthogonal experiments were implemented and the errors in length, width and height were measured and analyzed. The results of range analysis and variance analysis indicated the orders of effect factors. Dissolvent debinding combined with thermal debinding was adopted to remove the binders inside the green part by calculating debinding rate. The influence mechanism of sintering temperatures on the microstructure and shrinkage was elaborated.

The extrusion-based FFF in manufacturing copper parts can overcome shortcomings for high reflectivity and heat dissipation in laser powder bed fusion process at cost-saving and materials saving. This study makes an attempt to prepare copper/binder composite filaments through mixing, extrusion and flowability evaluation.

The results showed that the suitable composite filaments applied for FFF should balance rigidity and plasticity. The combination of printing speed and heating temperature impacts on the surface quality significantly, and the major factor in determining the dimensional accuracy is layer thickness. Two-stage debinding procedure was beneficial for binder removal and sintering process. The higher sintering temperature results in less voids, sizes shrinkage and densified microstructure, which is attributed to the occurrence of sintering neck among the fused copper powders.

The self-prepared copper/binder composite filaments were successfully manufactured using the FFF process. This study provides unique approach and print guidance for fabricating complex structures of pure copper components.