AI chatbots are increasingly being embedded in omnichannel retail ecosystems; however, research on how chatbot service quality relates to customer behavior is limited. In this paper, we conceptualize chatbot service quality (ChatbotSQ) as a formative construct comprising six dimensions: functional, integration, interface, safety, emotional, and personalization quality. Drawing on means-end chain theory, we examine decision confidence as a mechanism underlying the association between chatbot service quality and customers' share of time with the chatbot and omnichannel ecosystem lock-in and explore the moderating role of chatbot comfort level. We use partial least squares structural equation modeling, importance-performance map analysis, and necessary condition analysis to analyze survey data from the United States (N = 345) and Saudi Arabia (N = 302). The results show that chatbot service quality is positively associated with customers' share of time with the chatbot and omnichannel ecosystem lock-in in both countries. These relationships are mediated by decision confidence, which also emerged as a necessary condition for achieving both behavioral outcomes. Chatbot comfort level significantly moderates the relationship between ChatbotSQ and decision confidence in Saudi Arabia but not in the United States, indicating that this boundary condition is context-sensitive across the two samples examined. We also validate a condensed six-item ChatbotSQ measure that provides a parsimonious alternative for research and practice. These findings advance retailing research by showing that AI chatbot service quality is associated with behavioral outcomes through customers’ decision confidence.
The Monash-Peradeniya-Kodikara (MPK) framework interprets the volumetric behaviour of compacted unsaturated soils in the void ratio - moisture ratio - net stress (e - ew -p) space without requiring suction as an independent constitutive variable. Nevertheless, explicit knowledge of suction distributions within this volumetric space can provide additional insight into hydromechanical behaviour and facilitate comparison with conventional suction-based frameworks. This paper reconstructs continuous suction surfaces on and inside the Loading Wetting State Boundary Surface (LWSBS) within the MPK space by combining suction topology inferred from published experimental datasets with a constrained mathematical reconstruction methodology consistent with MPK principles. The reconstruction is divided into three regions relative to the Line of Optimums (LOO). At the wet side of the LOO, suction contours on the LWSBS are reconstructed using effective stress relationships and semilogarithmic compression relationships. At the dry side of the LOO, suction contours are reconstructed from Soil Water Characteristic Curves (SWCCs) extended towards the dry condition using cubic Bezier curves. Suction contours inside the LWSBS are reconstructed on constant net stress planes using fifth-order Bezier curves to generate smooth, continuous, and nonintersecting suction surfaces. Application to kaolin and Merri Creek soils produces suction profiles consistent with reported experimental trends, including suction reduction during constant moisture loading and a distinct transition in contour curvature across the LOO. The reconstructed suction surfaces preserve the fundamental structure of the MPK framework while providing the first explicit continuous hydraulic representation of suction within the MPK volumetric state space. They enable estimation of suction at intermediate soil states where direct measurements are unavailable, facilitate comparison with conventional suction-based interpretations, and establish a foundation for future constitutive, numerical, and coupled hydromechanical modelling within the MPK framework.
The classical single-site lattice strain model fails systematically for light and middle rare earth elements (LREE and MREE) in zircons from hydrous, phosphorus-undersaturated magmatic systems, predicting concentrations one to three orders of magnitude below observed values. We develop a two-population model in which the bulk partition coefficient is the mole-fraction-weighted sum of contributions from the ideal ZrO8 site and a second, enlarged site generated by REE3+–H+ coupled substitution. Both sites are parameterised by independent Brice parabolas; the fractional occupancy of the defect site, fd, follows a Langmuir saturation function of water content with half-saturation constant H0 = 422 ppm. Initial calibration of defect-site parameters against the 32 published SIMS spot analyses of Vema Fracture Zone oceanic gabbro zircons reported by De Hoog et al. (2014) gives an unconstrained Nd/Lu optimum of r0REE−H = 0.9916 Å, EREE–H = 592.1 GPa, D0REE−H= 344.5 (RMSE = 0.154 log10 units), whereas physically constrained weighted global optimisation, within-grain REE-pattern inversion, and DFT-consistent modest site expansion together indicate a preferred effective defect radius near 0.984 Å with an admissible envelope of ~0.975–0.993 Å. Forward modelling defines a detection threshold in temperature–[H2O] space below which the defect-site signal is unresolvable from geological noise, requiring [H2O]zrc > ~30–80 ppm depending on temperature. The model predicts that in hydrous, P-undersaturated systems the REE3+–H+ mechanism alone can produce Lazrc exceeding 0.1 ppm through genuine lattice incorporation, demonstrating that a fixed La threshold is not a universal inclusion-free criterion but depends on temperature, water content, and melt La concentration. The charge-balance ratio fdCB= (REY–P)/REY, recoverable from routine LA-ICP-MS data without water measurement, provides an independent estimate of defect-site occupancy and correlates with water-based estimates where the REE3+–H+ mechanism is active, thereby providing a quantitative test of mechanism activation across natural systems. The model is applicable specifically to P-undersaturated, hydrous, low-temperature magmatic systems where the REE3+–H+ mechanism has been independently confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy and charge-balance analysis.
Blast fishing is one of the most damaging illegal fishing practices and continues to imperil coral reefs and coastal livelihoods across the globe. However, efforts to eradicate this practice have met with mixed success, and few studies have examined the social context of blast fishing and blast fishing enforcement, including the perceptions of those affected. In Tanzania, a resurgence in blasting between 2002 and 2016 was successfully addressed with an increase in enforcement patrols from 2016 onward. We conducted individual and group surveys with 50 fishing households and 19 fisher groups in 19 coastal villages to investigate perceptions of enforcement, economic security, normative support, and governance, which may be related to the success of enforcement efforts. Our findings show that 1) the majority of our respondents reported increased fishing-derived income and fish availability following government enforcement on blast fishing, despite ongoing resource dependence and livelihood precarity; and 2) normative support and positive perceptions of governance may have provided a supportive environment for the successful reduction of blast fishing. In the face of ongoing global efforts to control destructive fishing, our findings highlight that effective enforcement against blast fishing is met with high degree of acceptance among fishing-dependent coastal communities and can create positive impacts such as increased reported fish availability and fishing income.
The targeted capture and enrichment of conserved regions across the nuclear genome has become a popular genome reduction method to sequence thousands of loci for phylogenomics and downstream species delimitation purposes. The approach that targets ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and exons has provided taxonomic resolution across deep and shallow timescales for many taxa that have previously proved to be particularly recalcitrant with traditional markers. However, basic information such as the genomic location and locus type (e.g., exonic, intronic) of the UCE loci targeted are often lacking for newly developed probe designs. Here, we identify UCE loci on Hexacorallia (corals and anemones) genomes using the recently designed hexa-v2 probe set and characterise the identified UCE loci by mapping the targeted capture probe set to annotated chromosome-level genome assemblies where possible. We also examine their efficacy in reconstructing phylogenetic relationships across the subclass. Based on publicly available genome assemblies and annotations, we show that hexacorallian UCE loci targeted by the hexa-v2 probe set are primarily exon-associated in the probe region and intron-associated in the flanking regions, are located throughout the genomes and across chromosomes and are effective in reconstructing hexacorallian phylogenetic relationships.
