Agentic artificial intelligence is moving digital retail from recommendation toward autonomous consumer representation. This research develops agentic retail representation capability as the perceived capacity to acquire retail intelligence, adapt choice strategies, preserve consumer goals, and execute bounded actions. The study includes a qualitative pretest, two scale validation samples, three experiments, and an independent category validation study, comprising 4680 quantitative participants and 210 qualitative respondents. Studies 1A and 1B assess four reflective dimensions combined as a formative composite. Study 2 finds higher delegation intention under a bundled capability intervention and statistical indirect associations through perceived diagnosticity and algorithm trust. Study 3 identifies expertise dependent responses across assortments jointly varying in size, priority information coverage, and displayed prices, preventing attribution to complexity alone. Study 4 finds stronger capability related trust under a bundled transparency intervention and higher authorization rates within an experimental shopping task. Study 5 examines measurement transportability and correspondence with independently coded agent activity. These findings concern perceived capability, measured reliance, and task authorization rather than verified commercial purchases. The contribution distinguishes functional capacity from reliance judgments and permission decisions while specifying the limits of measured mediation and bundled interventions. Retail applications require further validation with real payments, delivery, returns, and repeated consumer use.
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.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder arising from the interplay between genetic susceptibility and environmental factors. Much focus has been given to the known environmental contaminants, but the effects of emerging contaminants including micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) on the pathogenesis of ASD have not been adequately explored. Given their widespread environmental distribution, ability to cross biological barriers, persistence in tissues, and potential neurodevelopmental toxicity, MNPs have emerged as a major public health concern. This review aims to comprehensively examine the potential mechanistic links between MNP exposure and ASD. The available evidence suggests that MNPs trigger generation of ROS, mitochondrial dysfunction, chronic neuroinflammation and disruption of several important neurodevelopmental signaling pathways, such as PI3K/Akt/mTOR, Wnt/β-catenin and AGE–RAGE signaling. In addition, disruption of gut-brain axis may contribute to MNP neurodevelopmental abnormalities through gut microbiota dysbiosis, intestinal barrier dysfunction and aberrant immune activation. MNPs may also serve as carriers for persistent organic pollutants (POPs), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and heavy metals, which may act synergistically to enhance the neurotoxic effects of these contaminants through a ‘Trojan horse’ mechanism. These molecular and cellular activities may be interdependent and lead to defects in synaptic plasticity, neurotransmission and neuronal development, potentially contributing to ASD-like behaviour. This review provides an integrated mechanistic perspective and identifies research priorities for environmental risk assessment and the development of preventive strategies.
The demand for clean water is rapidly growing, which has prompted further development of nanomaterials for environmental purification and biomedical research. Photocatalysis is a highly promising oxidation method for the removal of organic and biological pollutants. It is quite evident that there is a serious and pressing demand to design economic treatment techniques, which are cheap and energy independent. In this study, we described the fabrication of Z-scheme heterostructure Er doped ZrO2/Bi2WO6 that effectively enhances visible-light-driven charge separation and redox ability, leading to superior photocatalytic degradation and antibacterial performance. The dual-functionality and high mineralization efficiency demonstrated in this study highlight the potential of the developed photocatalyst for sustainable wastewater treatment and biomedical-related environmental applications. The composite and its constituents were synthesized by hydrothermal approach and characterized in terms of their structural, optical, functional, morphological, photocatalytic and antibacterial properties. The optimized Er-doped ZrO2/Bi2WO6 nanocomposite exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance, achieving 97.02% degradation of the moxifloxacin (MOX) drug under visible light and showed good antibacterial capability against four bacterial strains the order of Escherichia coli > Bacillus fortis > Staphylococcus aureus > Streptococcus canis. Reactive-species scavenging analysis proved that the role of superoxide radicals (center dot O-2(-)) and hydroxyl (center dot OH) plays a significant role in the photocatalytic degradation of MOX. The current study highlights the enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial activity of the Z-scheme Er doped ZrO2/Bi2WO6 heterostructure due to their design and engineering, with applications in multifunctional industries, particularly environmental cleaning and biomedical research.
The development of low-cost and durable bifunctional electrocatalysts capable of replacing noble-metal catalysts for overall water splitting remains a critical challenge for sustainable hydrogen production. This interest seeks to replace the most expensive noble metals (Pt, Ir/IrO₂, and Ru/RuO₂) in renewable and green energy applications for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, there remain significant limitations, such as lower stability and higher energy consumption. Hence, we report the synthesis of a dual rare-earth element chelated, dual organic linker based bimetallic–organic framework (LaCe-BTC-BIM) as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for OER and HER performance. Among the synthesized MOF materials, the LaCe-BTC-BIM electrocatalyst demonstrated an extremely low overpotential of 259 mV toward OER at a constant current density of 10 mA cm⁻² in 1.0 M potassium hydroxide. Similarly, HER tests showed that the LaCe-BTC-BIM exhibited strong activity, with a low overpotential of 295 mV at 10 mA cm⁻². The Tafel slope values were 86 mV dec⁻¹ for OER and 131 mV dec⁻¹ for HER, respectively. Furthermore, a chronoamperometry study was conducted to evaluate the 36 hours (h) long-term stability of LaCe-BTC-BIM for OER and HER. Additionally, we performed a theoretical analysis of the prepared catalysts using DFT and evaluated their OER and HER efficiencies by constructing free-energy profiles. The present study exposes an innovative possibility for the development of robust bifunctional HER and OER electrocatalysts using rare-earth-containing bimetallic organic frameworks.
